ARK: Insulam
by MediocreMisterM
Summary: A young survivor awakens on a strange island with new and unknown dangers. What will this man discover? Will he make friend or foe of the prehistoric inhabitants? Will he ever figure out what Dodo tastes like? What will the human inhabitants do about the newcomer?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Matutinus

It was bright. That was all I could tell when I opened my eyes. I could see nothing but the loud shining of the sun on the clear blue sky. The only thing I could think was to cover my eyes, so I did just that. I moved my left arm over my face and block the light, but I am alarmed by the new light I see with this; a small, dim, red light. On my arm was a strange diamond shaped stone, with a red, diamond shaped outline of dim red light inside of that. I finally work up the strength to stand up to observe the stone better.

I look around and see that I'm on some beach with no distinctive landmarks in the immediate area. I bring up my arm again to identify the object. The strange stone seems to be only about and inch sideways and an inch and a half longways, and pertrudes about a quarter inch out of my skin. Scratching at the pertrusion doesn't seem to move it in any way noticable. I grip the sides and pull at the stone, only to have an extremely painful stabbing feel go through my entire body, making me yell out in sudden pain. Obviously, whatever this thing is doesn't want to come out.

Finished trying to understand my new bodily attachment, I look around properly to get my bearings. Near instantly I notice the most amazing yet terrifying thing I've ever seen in the distance; a giant, floating obelisk type building. No, wait, there are three of them! To my right a green one, left a red, and one blue one far north.

"Where the hell am I," I ask myself, turning my gaze back down to the beach. "Oh, great, less than ten minutes and I'm already talking to myself," I exclaim to no one in particular, "This is just perfect."

On the beach, I notice a small bird-looking animal, roughly the size of a chicken, but far fatter. I walk up to the creature and notice it defiantly isn't any chicken I've ever seen. Or, well, I think anyones ever seen to be honest. It had a fairly long and round beak, much bigger than any bird I've ever known. It also walked on short, stubby legs, making it surprisingly slow, and, if I'm completely true with myself, kinda cute. The bird was also built with a very small pair of heavily feathered wings, too small for any type of flight. The little guy doesn't seem to be scared of my presence at least, so it's either not scared of me or increadibly stupid.

"What are you, little fella," I ask the small bird, trying to put a name to the animal. Giving the bird another look over I suddenly remember something I've learned in school. Something about a bird that matched this ones description. "You aren't a... no, those have been extinct for a long time." I try to keep the idea out of my mind but it fails. With everything strange going on, the idea of a Dodo Bird being here isn't all that off. There have been sightings of extinct things recently, right?

I look around to see if i can find any other note worthy objects or creatures, only to see a few more Dodos. I think should try making at least a signal fire,. That is if planes even come over where ever in the world I am. Might need some flint to do that, thought. How do I get flint? As soon as I think this I realize that there are several giant rocks located all around me. I just need to knock some off it until I get flint. That's how it works, right? Hit a rock, get flint and smaller rocks.

Yeah. Science bitch.

"Now... how do I do this," I wonder out loud, "You got any ideas, KFC?" The bird simply looks at me mindlessly and continues to waddle away. "Yes, just what I thought. Stupid," I laugh at the Dodo as I focus again on the stone. As I do this, I notice a slightly sharper looking stone on the ground, pointed near perfectly on both ends. Along with this, there is a piece of wood about a foot long. Rather conveniently shaped for a handle of some type. I pick up the two objects and, before I could do anything with them, they vanish into two small streams of light and get sucked into the object on my arm.

"Hey," I yell at my arm, "I needed those!" Annoyed, I throw up my arms, catching a small look of a light coming out of the stone once it reached a certain height. I move my arm to the point again and am instantly greeted with a holographic projection. In the projection, I see several things that do nothing but raise even more questions than I already had. "Amazing, more confusing shit. What I wouldn't do for a drink right now," I sigh as I look over the different things within the screen.

On the left side, there was a small grid that had three slots of it filled; one with a picture of the stone in your arm that had a name underneath it that read 'Specimen Implant #060215', and the other two grids had the stone and stick I picked up. This grid must be some type of storage system? More and more questions...

On the right, there was a picture of myself. I was almost completely naked aside from some fairly rudementary underwear. Under that, there was some type of bar that was slowly filling up a bright blue color with the words 'Lv. 1' right above it. "Level one? Like... like a video game? What the actual hell?" Underneath that was a list of several different words; Health, stamina, oxygen, food, water, melee damage, movement speed, fortitude, crafting speed, and torpor. Each of these are followed by a number percentage, a backslash, and a full percentage of one-hundred.

I close the screen and try to get a better grasp as to what any of that means. "Ok," I openly say, "Health. That one's obvious. As is oxygen and food and water, but melee damage? So... bigger that number, stronger I hit? Strange... Not exactly sure that's how it works." As I talk to myself I hear what sounds like a caw of pain, followed by the sound of something snapping loudly. I turn around as see that the Dodo that was there prior to the hologram examination was now in half! Part being on the ground, bleeding, and another in the mouth of a very large, green colored reptile with some type of skin flaps on the side of it's head. I instantly knew what this guy-no... no the skin down there is completely flat... I instantly knew what this girl was.

It was a Dilophosaurus. The same dinosaur from Jurassic Park that killed that fat guy. What was his name again? Doesn't matter. It spit poison and eats meat. I have to get away from this thing. Quickly. I turn around, but am met with a loud hissing as another Dilo, red of color, was facing me. I look down and see this one has a lower hanging area of skin under its crotch region. This one was a male. More aggresive.

"H-hey there, buddy," I speak quietly to the reptile as I try to back away. "Look, I don't want any trouble now, ok? I'm just gonna... leave now, if that's cool. Heh..."

Before I could move very far, the Dilo let out an ear-splitting screech and alerted the female to my presence. I try to react but am instantly caught off-guard as the male opens the fin-like pertrusions on it's head and spits at me, blinding and burning me. I didn't have anything to fight back with, so I did the only thing anyone would do. I turned a direction and ran.

As I was running, I tried to wipe the acidic saliva from my eyes, gaining back some visability. I look befind me and see the pair of Dilos chasing me. They were fast, but I was faster, even if by just a little. I start to out run the reptiles and find a large rock. I climb up quickly and rest. For some reason, I couldn't go as far as I usually do. I remember being top in my track team in highschool. Then, something crosses my mind.

I raise up my arm and look at the holographic screen again. The percentage next to the word stamina was down to only three percent, and slowly growing. At the same time, my food and water percentages were slowly falling. Obviously, the three apptitutes had a direct correlation. Whatever the connection, it was still clear as day. Food stays up, stamina regenerates itself.

After a few seconds, I see that the blue bar has filled completely, and added a small square next to each of the words. I'm not really sure what to do with this, but I think of the most possible options. If this _does_ work like a video game, which with the level and apptitutes, this would allow me to upgrade one of these. Although... I don't know how to do this. That's probably a good thing considering I don't exactly know what to put this point into.

"Let's see, what do I need most out of all of this? I guess... maybe heath would be smartest?" I think about this and almost instantly the percentage next to my health goes up, and the box dissapears. I put two and two together and figure that what I think I need the most is what the point goes into. Yeah, because that won't be confusing.

I close the screen and look over the rock. It looks like the Dilophosaurus' have finally caught up and are barking at the bottom of the rock. Looks like these two aren't able to get up here. Dumb lizards. I guess the only thing I can do now is wait up here until the two leave.

I get to the highest and flattest point on the rock and lay down to wait. The only thing I can do now really is rest some more. That spit did a number to my vision, and fumes are starting to mess with my head. A little nap couldn't hurt, could it? I close my eyes and try my best to ignore the constant cries of the Dilos to get a bit of rest.

"I can figure things out later. But first, sleep."

* * *

Elsewhere on the Island, a long surviving lady jerks her head upwards. "Finally," The lady says to herself, "new meat."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Instrumentum

I'm unsure how long I've been out. Must have been a while since the sun is starting to set. I get up tiredly and look around. Still on the dumb rock, still on the dumb island, still have a dumb stone in my arm. God, this whole situation is dumb. Speaking of situation, I look over the rock to see the pair of Dilos have wandered off somewhere while I was out. Good. One less thing to worry about, at least for now.

"Alright, Gregory," I announce to myself, "guess I should find something to start properly."

I look up at the sky. It was rather late, maybe around seven or so. The temperature was dropping quickly, and I know that is not a good thing. Human's aren't the most useful if they freeze to death. I suppose the smart thing to do is start what I was attempting earlier and gather things for a fire. I still have the rock and stick, only thing I need it to get something to tie them together. Now where would I get something like that?

I hop off the rock and look around. There are a few stones on the ground, a couple Dodos wandering, a dozen trees or so, and a lot of bushes.

"Huh, ok then. I can work with this. Maybe."

I go to the nearest bush and tug a little at the bushes branches. When I do, a few berries pop of and I get a little bit of, what I can only assume is, fiber. I pick up the berries and they follow what the stone and wood did. I open my holo-inventory thing and look at the berries. The blue berries appear to be called Azulberries, the red are Tintoberries, and some black ones called Narcoberries. Oh, hey. They even have little descriptions! They all seem to be relatively the same aside from the black ones. Let's see here...

Narcoberry (x3): This fairly common black berry makes you sleepy when you eat it. Bitter, but can be used to make black dye.

"Well," I say to myself, "don't want to eat those then." I look over and pick up the fiber on the ground and it goes into my storage. I think I now have enough materials to make a very primitive pickax. Hey, I gotta start somewhere. I take out my stick, rock, and fiber and tie them together. The pick is made and is then put into my inventory, to which I open it again. I see that my, as I will start calling it, experience bar filled up very quickly from that. It appears that different actions will raise the bar at different speeds.

I think hard and am equipped with my pickax. I come to assume the Specimen Implant is some how connected to my thoughts. I take note of this and turn to a large rock. I don't know what else to do so I simple strike at the rock, sending off small sparks along with some smaller stones, flint, and some strange, glistening hunk of rock. All three of the items go instantly into my Implant. Using tools appears to automatically pick up resources for me. That's pretty nifty.

I should get a bit of wood, too. Can't have a fire without fuel! Pretty much the only thing I ever actually learned in Boy Scouts. I go over to a tree and hack at it with the pick, giving me majorly some kind of thatch like material and very little wood. Pickaxes does not appear to be good wood gathering tools. Perhaps something better would be an... ax? That would make sense, but then again I'm not exactly the smartest so I could just be blowing shit out my ass.

I check my storage again to see what I have available. I have a fairly decent about of flint and thatch, as well as smaller amount of wood and stone. I take out some flint, wood, and thatch and set them in front of me.

"Alright, this should be easy," I assure myself, not having any idea what I'm doing, "Just have to, uh... ok."

I start sorting the flint into an ax-like shape underneath the wood and begin to tie them together. After a few seconds, I now have a primitive ax! I switch it out with my pick and go, as some people would say, 'H.A.M.' on a nearby tree. With it, I gather far more wood than with a pick, but also far less thatch. Seems like different tools are useful for different resources, yet still gather smaller amounts of the opposite materials. Looks like a good even trade off.

After gathering more resources of everything I need, I start assembling a small campfire. I set the fire ablaze and sit down. I look above at the stars and try to properly take in everything. Where am I? What purpose do I have here? Am I the only one? What do those Dodo Birds taste like? Why are there dinosaurs? God, I am far too tired and confused to think about this. And hungry. Holy shit, am I hungry. But I don't have anything big, and I doubt these berries will do much. Oh well, might as well try them.

I take out the Azulberries, assuming they will be the same as normal blueberries. I pop one into my mouth and am met with a fairly sweet taste, though slightly tart. Pretty good in my opinion. I'd give them a seven out of ten. I eat the last three and then pull out the Tintoberries. I eat one and wince at the very sour taste of them. Yeah, no. I will not eat these. I'm not in a situation to be picky, but I will be. Just the kind of guy I am.

I look back up at the sky and notice something. I may not have cared about Scouts of science, but I did memorize all of the constellations, and there was not a single known one up there. Every star appeared to be in a random order, not matching anything I'd ever known. This is strange. Then again, I was almost killed by dinosaurs less than two hours ago.

I put the thought in the back of my mind and stand back up. I look around and am greeted by the sight of a larger reptile down the beach. It was much, much bigger than the dilophosaurs, and walked on all fours. It had a vary large head with several long horns on it's face. It's extremely easy to tell that this creature was a triceratops. A herbivore. No fear with this one, thankfully. I walk up to the creature to examine it more closely.

I looked down and noted it was a male. It had a very distinctive set of colors, the majority of his body being a light tan, almost orange, with dark red spots over it's face and head, with a light green texture on his back. I've noticed that the males of these dinos appear to have more vibrant color schemes. At least, that's how it is for trikes and dilos.

The reptilian looks at me and makes a strange half bark, half roar sound, most likely telling me I'm a little too close.

"Whoa there, friend. I'm cool," I try to reassure the dinosaur. "Just checking you out is all. Is that okay?"

The large trike proceeded to do something I am very surprised at. It snorts and then appears to nod it's head, almost as if it understood me. Apparently I'm able to talk to prehistoric reptilian monsters. Neat. The creature turns it's attention back to a large bush it was grazing on and goes to eating off of it. It looked as though the trike is able to pick more berries from the bush than I am with my hands alone. I get an idea that this creature would make a very good farming animal. I wonder if taming of one of these creatures is possible.

I soon realize that I should be more focused on my own survival than trying to domesticate a giant creature. I leave the three-horned creature to return to my campfire, which at this time appears to have went out. I look into the fire to see if there are any remnants I may way to take. Just as I do, I notice small pile of chard wood. I pick up the pieces and they are put into my Implant. I open it and see that a new slot has appeared.

Charcoal (x7): Made from burning wood.

Well, that's not very helpful. I might be able to do something with this later, but for now I should toss it. How... do I toss things? Well, if this thing works with my thoughts, maybe if I just think about? I do just this, and suddenly a small cardboard looking box appears and falls in front of me. Surprised by this, I go up to the box and observe it. After a few moments the box disappears, completely out of existence. I'm startled by this, yet decide to blow it over. That is honestly one of the least surprising things I've seen so far.

Speaking of surprising things, I look behind me and see a giant pillar of light coming from an unknown source. I look up at the pillar and see a strange object falling from the sky inside of the light. I step away from it and wait while it comes to the land. Once it lands, I walk up to it cautiously, waiting for it to do anything. When I get up to it my Implant starts to glow the same white color as the light pillar. I raise up my arm and am greeted with a different gird, this one having a small amount of items inside of it.

Inside is a very primitive torch, some type of wooden club, several spears, and what looks like clothes. I see that next to this grid is my own inventory with everything inside it still. I think hard and suddenly, all of the items in the other grid is moved to my Implant. After this, my screen forcibly close and the object dissipates, similar to the box earlier. I will not look a gift horse in the mouth, and go into my inventory and equip the clothes. It gives me a little bit of warmth and some very minimum protection.

Well, so far I have a very nice amount of tools and some armor. There's a little campfire to keep me warm for however long night lasts here. There is almost no danger around me. And, now, I have a big friend right over there. I should be good for a time being. Although, tomorrow morning, I am going to have to start some type of base for myself. A roof over my head is always needed. For now, I just lay down next to my fire and close my eyes again, this time for the entire night, and not just waiting for enemies to leave. A normal night's sleep is much needed.

* * *

In a forest on the Island, a lady is preparing. Preparing for anything to come at her. As well as getting ready to go at anything. Just as she has for a very large number of years.

"I have had this Island for too long," she says to her large Dire Wolf, "we won't let any newcomer take it over, will we Lupo?"

The wolf let's out a loud howl in agreement, which leads the rest of the woman's pack to howling as well. The sound of a small wolf pack echoes across the Island.

* * *

In the freezing mountains of the north, a group of three look out to the forest near the Red Obelisk at the sound of Dire Wolves howling. The three look at each other in an agreed understanding. That sound always mean someone has arrived.

"Hmph. She is on varpath again," one of the men say in a very thick, Russian accent. "Should ve do somezing?"

The man closest to the fire looks up at the stars and laughs. "Oh, vot can ve do? Ven Alessandra gets like this, zere iz nothing left," the leader answers, having a slight French accent. "Three days. Zat iz ze rule we made. If zey are still alive, zen we help. "

"But for now," he says again, "let us get some rest. Zose Mammoth will not rest for tired hunters."


	3. Chapter 3: Cicuro

Chapter 3: Cicuro

I wake up to the feeling of something licking my face. Instinctly, I sit up and pull out a spear to face the creature near me. I look around only to see a medium sized, bipedal dinosaur standing in front of me. The creature doesn't seem to be very hostile, as it only watches my movements for a second. I wipe my face to get a better look at the large reptilian.

The dino is standing on its two hind legs, with a pair of small arms, but not small enough to be useless. It had a very long face with something that resembled a large fin on top of it's head, with what appeared to be a flap of solid skin on it. It also had a decently long tail with small bumps going all the way from the tip of the tail up to its head. If I had to assume, it was a female due to it's rather bland coloration. I look at the creature for a second and am suddenly hit with a realization. This dino was a Parasaur! I remember it from those stupid old movies. What were they called?... The Land Before Time, that's right! Those were terrible. And kind of boring now that I'm technically living _in_ a dinosaur filled land.

"Hey there girl," I greet the Parasaur. "What're you doing, licking my face?"

I laugh as the dinosaur starts to walk away a little. I look around and decide where I could start a very rudementary shelter. A home base. A center of control. Holy shit, I'm going crazy. I walk around for a few minutes and come across a fairly flat area, basically begging to have a base on it. I go to the center of the area and plan a small blueprint in my head. For what I have planned, I will need a _lot_ of materials, mostly wood and fiber. Well, nobody said survival was easy. Or that I'd have to survive on an island covered in prehistoric creatures.

I look around and go to the nearest tree I find and equip my ax. I hack away at the tree until it's gone and I have a fair amount of wood and thatch. Now for the fun part. I go to a bush and begin pulling at the branches, giving myself fiber along with an assortment of berries, including two new colors; yellow and purple. I go into my inventory to examine these new fruit and notice that I have gained another level, most likely while I was asleep. I look over my attributes and put a point into my stamina. If what I think is true, I should be able to run and do things for a longer amount of time.

After I upgrade myself, I look over into my inventory. I now have two stacks of new berries.

Amarberry (x8) A yellow berry that grows majorly on the Island's beaches. Tasty, though sour, it can be used to make yellow dye.

Mejoberry (x6) This wild berry grows mostly on mountains. While not a tasty snach on its own, its juices improve almost every meal. A berry that is very enjoyed by wild herbivores and is often used in herbivorous taming.

Taming? As in, with these berries, I could actually tame something that eats plants? Well, ain't that news to me! I may have to try this out somehow... But, first, I should be doing the most imprortant thing. I have to stop getting so off track. I return to the flat area and set out my building materials and get to work. And at this moment I realize I don't any idea what I'm doing. Well, doing is the best way of learning.

* * *

In the western woods of the Island, Alessandra hides in the bushes, currently under suit of a small group of Phiomias. She looks to the right at her lead Dire Wolf, Lupo, and nods. Almost instantly, Lupo pounces at the fattest of the pig-like creatures. As this happens, the other three wolves run out and gang up on the remaining Phiomias, killing two of them quickly. Alassandra soon runs out of her shrubery and jabs the remaining mammal in its head with a pike, killing it upon impact.

"Good job, pack," she announces to the group, "another easy hunt." Alessandra looks over the collection of corpses and her wolf pack, before smiling and knocking her head towards the bodies. The Dire Wolves let out howls and goes into tearing the Phiomias, bringing large quantities of both meat and hide into their collective inventories. After the wolves finish the bloody remainders, the lady hops onto the back of Lupo and begin her trek back to her base.

After a long run, the hunting pack finds themselves at the base of a large, almost behemoth sized gateway. Alessandra opens the doors and they all run inside in a single file line. The survivor enters and closes the gate before anyone could find thier way inside, which was impossible considering there were only four living humans on the Island. Well, four plus the new meat. New survivors. Just the thought of it angers Alessandra to a point of almost screaming. She hates competition, and the idea of a living person on this God forsaken rock automatically puts the thought of someone dethrowning her into her mind.

The other group in the North has already accepted her as the surperior of the survivors, and will even refer to her as the Queen of the Island, so Alessandra has no reason to fear them. But this newcomer knows nothing of her, and she knows nothing of their intentions. So, obviously, the best thing to do in these situations is to eliminate the threat before it can harm her.

When the group reaches the giant stone house, Alessandra goes to each of the wolves and takes the collected hide from their inventory. She enters the building and goes to her table of crafting, the smithy. She enters the smithy inventory and moves the hide into it. With the new amount of resources Alessandra begins putting together a new saddle, for her brand new monstrous companion. Once she finishes, she exits through the backdoor and goes to her behemoth of a creature. She does the process that is so familiar to her, enters the dinosaurs inventory, moves the saddle to the correct place, and steps back. Alessandra stares in awe her now ridable Tyrannosaurus Rex. A living weapon of mass destruction.

* * *

After nearly two hours, I finally have a very rushed, very primitive wooden base set up, with windows and everything. They may be a bit of a waste of resources, but presentation matters, even in a life or death situation. Now that I have this properly set up, I need to think of what to do next. While I think, I turn around and notice another Dodo Bird wandering around aimlessly. Seeing the thing reminds me of the definition given to the purple berries. Perhaps I could use this fat bird as a test subject?

I equip the wooden club I obtained from the falling object the night before and walk up to the Dodo. I'm not one hundred percent sure on how I'm meant to do this, so I do the first thing that comes to mind. I strike the bird hard on the head. The bird reacts by only flapping it's small, useless wings and running away. Very slowly. I walk behind the bird and strike it again, and again. Soon, the Dodo passes out and I can start the taming process. At this moment I realized I have no idea what the taming process is.

I squat down next to the unconsious creature and look it over. It's slightly bloody from the amount of times I hit it but it remains breathing, so it's still somewhat alive. I reach down to touch it and as I do so, my Implant begins to glow again. I open up the screen to find another grid right next to mine. Beside the grid was the word Dodo. It looks like everything on this island works with a similar interface when activated with the strange stone in my arm. I look below the word Dodo to see some more, minor information. It had a level, similar to mine, of only twelve. I'm unsure how to take that an extict bird is apparently a higher level than me, but I just blow it over. Below that it has it's gender, female, followed by the exact same attributes that I possess. At the both of the list, the torpor number is very high, though it is dropping rather quickly. At this I remember the black berries that I have, the ones that supposedly make you tired. I think and after a few seconds the berries are moved into the Dodo's inventory. After this, I think about the purple berries that herbivores enjoy, and they are moved into it's inventory.

I close the screen and step back. After several seconds the bird lifts it's head and appears to eat something, though nothing being currently in it's mouth. When this happens, I am met with a bar hovering over the bird. Two bars, acctually, one purple and one tan. The tan one has the word 'Taming' across it, while the purple has 'Unconscous.' The taming one must show how much longer I have until the creature is tamed to me, and the unconscious was is kind of self explanitory. I wait a few more seconds and the Dodo eats again. Now the tan bar is at the 'E' on the progression status, but the purple bar has gotten fairly low.

I reopen the birds inventory and focus on the Narcoberries. I try to think of the bird eating one and, just as I thought, it eats two of them and the torpor raises almost back to full. Although the bird clearly eats the sleep-inducing berries, it's hunger bar doesn't seem to go up at all. It appears that Narcoberries don't have any form of impact on taming or food.

I wait about four or five more minutes for the bird to finish. After it eats the last Mejo, the Dodo stands up and appears to yawn. I'm surprise by this concidering the last time I checked, it's torpor was near half full. I look at the now awake bird and am startled when a series of words begin to float above it.

Dodo Bird - Level 16: Owner - Greggory: Following - Greggory

I guess this is a way to tell my dinos from the wild ones. That's... interesting, to say the least. Whatever this place is, it obviously is run by some type of computer system that gives everything some type of visible light system. Or something. I have a headache now. Although, if everything _is_ ran off a computer, than that would make those giant pillars... antennas, maybe?

"You know anything about those," I ask at my new pet. She simple looks at me and makes it's strange bark-caw sound. "Yeah, I didn't think so. Hey, now that I think about it, you need a name." The bird tilts her head as though it somehow knew what that meant. I look down and think for a few moments before coming up with a name. "How about Patches? That good enough for you?"

As soon as I say this, the words above the birds head change, switching the word 'Dodo' with the name 'Patches.' Everything remains the same and the bird simply pumps up and down twice. I'm taking that as a sign that Patches likes her new name.

I start walking back to my makeshift home with Patches right behind me. I step onto the raised foundation I made enter the, honestly, shitty made door. Once both me and the bird enter, I turn to the bird and tell her to stop following. Even though I do this three times, the words above it still has the words 'following' shown. Unsure of how to stop the bird from following me, I simply lean against a wall to think of a solution. While I think, I begin to whistle. I hit a high note I was previously unknown of being able to do, and suddenly the word 'following' was no longer over the birds head.

"So," I inquire, "you respond to whistling, huh? That's neat."

I head to the door to go outside before I hear a very familiar hissing sound. I stick my head out and see a certain pair of Dilos, one red and one green. And they look pissed. For a good whole minute, all three of us were just staring at each other before the green female hissed at me. At this, the male opens the flaps on the side of his head and spits at me. I was smart enough to already be inside by the time the saliva hit, marking the door with a large burn mark. I figure the smartest thing to do here is close everything, so I do just that. I quickly slam the door in and go to the windows. I barely dodge a large claw when I force the window close, catching the Dilos arm inside.

I panic and arm myself. The idea of any part of this creature in my home is one I am not going to stand for. Without thinking, I swing my ax down on the reptile, completely severing the body part from the rest of it. There's a loud thump when the appendage falls and a very pain filled hissing outside the wall. I crack the window to see the duo running away, the male bleeding profusely as they escape.

In all honesty, I feel kind of bad for that. This spot was probably their nest or something, and here I come just putting up a weird building. And now I just chopped off one of their arms. They need that arm! I can't just go around committing... is there a name for chopping off arms? Screw it, I'm calling it arm-choppy. Even though their just animals, and they were trying to kill me, I feel I could receive some type of punishment. Oh well, too late now. I guess I should think of something to do, at least until I know for sure the coast is clear.

* * *

A tall French man stands over the body of a defeated Woolly Mammoth and looks over his small tribe of survivors.

"Good hunt everyone," the man exclaims, "Took ze bastard out vith only zree shots! New record."

The man and woman next to the beast high-five, taking in the glory of victory. The woman than takes out an ax made of perfectly refined metal and starts hacking away at the hide of the dead creature.

"Ha! Damn bloke didn't even know what hit 'em," the English lady laughs. "Right 'tween the eyes and BAM! The wankers all bloody... bloody!"

"Yes, ve know Kaitlyn," the Russian responded, annoyed, "ve vere there. I vas vone who shot it."

"I know! I just still love anything you do with those things!" Kaitlyn looks up after finishing the Mammoth. "You don't how weird it is to use those after never even seeing one when I'm from. You got a World War! You know what I got? The bloody Black Plague!"

"It been two months, you are used to it now. Not to mention you brought that stupid disease with you and infecting the stupid Leeches."

"But it's still really bloody nice! Just let me have this, you annoying blond wanker."

"Both of you," the French interrupted, "just... Ugh, just shut up. You've had zis argument twenty-four times already. I know because I've been keeping count. It's pointless and honestly just idiotic."

"Apologies, André," they duo say simultaneously.

"Good. We have much to do if ze newcomer is to have a proper welcoming."

"Given he even survives," the Russian added.

It was true the man said. Ever since Alessandra had elected herself queen, no one ever lives past a day, two if they're lucky. But André had hope. There's always the chance the new survivor can hide out until the three day period. Until then, the three should at least prepare for the chance that they can live.

"Alright tribe," the leader said, "back to base."

The two nodded and returned to their Argentavis' and took off. Birds. Birds are defiantly the way to travel on the Island.


	4. Chapter 4: Venari

Allesandra mounts her collasal creature. It's been around a day and a half since the newcomer has been here, that means she is half way gone with her open oppertunity of killing them. Allesandra can't let the Mountaineers get their protective hands on another one. She let them get the British lady last time, and she is no where near proud of that. Especially after the Brit got away with your Raptors head. But, that is not here nor there anymore. All there is, is the body of the person whom she is going to have her Rex tear apart limb from limb. And, of course, let the pack have a go at them.

"Come, Behemoth," Allesandra speaks to the Tyrannosaur. "We have a threat to take care of."

The Rex lets out a giant roar in approval, causing the Dire Wolf pack to howl in unison. Allesandra leads the Rex and wolves out of her base, charging towards the normal area in which all newcomers appear. She refuses to let anyone overtake her.

* * *

I jump at the sound of the random roar in the distant. I have no clue as to what it is, but for some reason, I knew that it wasn't good. I look at Patches and she simply caws at me in a very distressed tone. I try to put the thought in the back of my mind anf open the door. The Dilos appear to be gone for now, so it seems like I can go outside now. I step onto the beach, lookinf around for any immediate threats. I see nothing that can be dangerous, aside from a very small bird looking creature, about a foot in length. I equip one of my spears and approach the avian. It doesn't notice me for a good few moments until I decide to poke it. When I do, the bird turns around and charges at me. Taken by surprise, I stab at the bird but miss by a good half foot. The creature jumps at me and, instead of attacking, scratches at my Specimen Implant. It scratches for a few seconds before jumping off, carrying what looks to be the remainder of my Mejoberries. The bird runs a good twenty or so feet before stopping suddenly. When it does, the same words appear over it that did Patches when I tamed it.

Pegomastax - Lv. 5: Owner - Greggory: Following - Greggory

But right under that was another set of words, this time in orange.

Fast Pick-pocketing

What does that mean? Like, this thing can take stuff from other things? Well that's pretty cool! Although, raises a question. If this thing can pick-pocket, that would mean there's actually something on the island that _has_ pockets, right? Does that mean there are other people? Sure, it could just be a choice of words, but it's still a thought.

"You need a name, don't ya?" I ask the little bird. I open the bird's inventory to see if it says the creatures gender. It does, and the bird is a male. Probably explains its nice coloration of light tan, dark and average oranges, and black feet. "Hmm, how's about... Thief? Goes with the pick-pocket thing." The Pegomastax appears to smile and hops a little, before the name over it changed. I look at the bird and have a strange thought. I squat down and pick up the bird, placing it onto my shoulder. Immediately, Thief raps his body around the back of my neck, steadying himself with his small arm, tickling me a little bit. I laugh at this and stand up. It looks like I have a friend to accompany me whilst I'm out and about. Speaking of...

I look over to the ocean to see if any kind of sea faring vehicle is near the island. Just as I thought, there is nothing. Why would there be? That'd be way too lucky for me. I never was the luckiest of people. That's what happens when you break eighty-four mirrors to prove luck doesn't exist. I still have a shard in hand somewhere. I turn back around to beach and the forest behind it. I look at the woods and think of exploring it, before realizing that it's most likely filled with even more dangerous dinosaurs than the ones I have met so far. Plus the Dilos that escaped earlier were running that direction. I really don't want to meet those two again, especially after I committed first degree arm-choppy on the red one. Plus, part two, the giant roar and howls doesn't help.

Against my better judgement I move to the tree line. As dangerous as it is, this is where the most bushes are, and I am getting pretty hunger. I kneel down next to the biggest bush I could find and start picking, getting an average amount of fiber and berries. As I work I mindlessly start whistling, slightly hoping to get a reaction from Thief, although with him being on my shoulder I don't expect much. After a few seconds, I whistle a decently low note that apparently get's the birds attention. Thief jumps off of my shoulder and goes into the bushes.

After about thirty seconds, he comes running out of the shrubbery and stops in front of me. I look at the bird before opening his inventory. What I see is actually very strange. His inventory is now filled with a large number of multiple berries! This little guy must be a natural forager. I may have to bring this little guy when I go farming. I look over to the side and see that he happens to have leveled up. Looking over his status', I decide to put the new point into weight, considering it was almost full by the amount of berries he has.

I pick Thief up and put him back on my neck, letting him get comfortable again. He seems to like it up high on my shoulders. He lets out a light chirping noise and looks over towards the end of the beach. I look in the same direction and see the Trike from beforehand. And another dinosaur right behind it. A big one. With horns and tiny arms. And it looked angry. And it was.

The new dinosaur charged at the Trike, letting out a roar as it bites on the dinos torso. The Trike yelled out and struggled the new creature off it's side. The giant carnivore is thrown off and the Trike advances. It thrusts one of it's horns into the beast, with little to no reaction from him. The Trike pulls out covered in blood and stabs again, digging it's horn even deeper, causing the beast to cry out in pain and even spit up blood. This causes the beast to pull back, removing the Trike and finally biting down on his head plate. The Trike trembles down, lowering itself to one knee. This fight looks almost completely one sided right now. I can't let it go down like this.

I pull out my spear and charge into the skirmish. Neither of the dinos appear to notice me, giving me the perfect opportunity to strike. I look around and see the rock I hid on top of before. I climb it quickly and turn back to the fight. Both the reptiles were borderline tearing into each other, throwing blood everywhere. I wait for the perfect moment and jump. I land right on the carnivore's back and drive the spear right into it's spine. It struggles for a minute and the Trike takes the opening to attack once more.

The Trike stabs all three of it's horns into the beast, and the carnivore finally falls. It's clear that the beast is dead. Nothing, not even on this weird island, could survive losing that much blood. Also, I'm pretty sure that's a heart over there. Yep, that's a heart. I just saw it beat. Gross. I turn back over to the Trike, to see that he has already wondered a little away. I guess things like this happen often enough for him not to notice.

"Well, that was fucked up," I say to Thief, "You see stuff like that a lot?"

" _Chirp, purr,_ " is all Thief responds with.

At least he's a little responsive when I talk to him. And, apparently, Thief can purr. That's cute. I turn my attention back to the dead monster. I look it over and see that my Implant is glowing a little bit. I open it and see another inventory, most likely the beasts. I look it over and see that it is called a Carnotaurus. The inventory has some very basic items in it, holding only a couple of berries, a cloth shirt, and pick. It seems like it picked a few things off of some bodies. Wait a second... Does that mean there are others here? Or, at the least, were others here?

I decide to ignore that for now. If there were others, there defiantly aren't now. At least, the ones that owned these aren't around. I take the berries and the pick. Never know when the one I have now will break. I finish looking over the contents of the Carno and close the hologram. I look at the corpse and think of something. I equip my ax and start attacking the body. I get splattered in blood but have a number of both meat and hide going into my inventory. I tear away at the body until, to my surprise, the corpse simple dissolves into nothing. Not just the corpse, but the blood on the beach, on my, and on the Trike, and even the heart on the ground disappear as well. Somehow, I am still surprised by this, despite I should have expected the craziness.

I look at where the body was and a thought crosses my mind. Was this what made that roar earlier?

...No. I heard this thing roar when it attacked the Trike. This sounded nowhere as big. That scares me a little bit. This thing was crazy, but it obviously isn't the biggest thing here. That makes another thought come to mind. If there are dinosaurs on this island, and this Carno isn't the biggest creature there could be. What else does that leave? A T-Rex... that's all there could possible be.

As soon as I think this, I hear it again. That roar. Those howls. They were close. Closer than I feel comfortable with. I turn around and see what look like Pteradons fly out of the trees, trees that were obviously falling down. Thief simply hisses at the forest, increasing my feeling that this is a bad position to be in right now. I didn't even care to see what it was, I just turn away from it. And I ran. I just ran down the beach as fast as I could. I realize that there is nowhere on this stretch of sand to hide, so I do something I really didn't want to. I charged towards the forest. Far enough away from the giant creature behind me, and going to direction away from it. I don't what's in here. Nothing could be worse than that monstrosity. Before I actually get to the woods, I hear it again. I try to stop myself, but I look back.

What I see is terrifying. I was right when I thought of a T-Rex. What I didn't think about, was the group of wolves at the monsters feet. What I didn't think about even _more_ was that it was wearing a saddle, with a woman on it's back. The woman looks around and catches the tree line. More importantly, she looks right where I am. I'm too far to tell anything, but I could've sworn she smiled. An evil, evil smile. She whistles and the Rex erupts a roar, followed by the wolves howling. I am basically frozen with fear, but force the ability to continue running. I get a decent way into the woods before I feel a thump, followed by a second one. It was following me.

I obviously can't out run the creatures, but I can hide. And that's exactly what I do. I look around and see an opening in the cliff side. I can't tell how far it goes, but I take the chance. I rush into it and go as far as I could before I run out of stamina. I look behind me and see something that absolutely horrifies me. I see one of the creatures clawed feet step by the opening of the cave. It stands for a second before continuing down the woods. I breath and finally feel safe, at least for a second. I decide to wait in here for a while until I feel completely safe.

At least I would, if it wasn't for the large, white canine that appears in the caves entrance. It simply smells the ground before growling into the cave, taking a few steps into it. It makes itself about five feet before lowering it's ears and backing up. I stare from where I'm from and watch the wolf. The canine turns around and exits the cave, obviously distraught by something. I step out of my crevice and look at the cave mouth. I then hear a loud clicking noise.

I turn around and see, quite possible, the most colossal centipede that has ever existed. Seeing this iridescent beast, I could only think of one thing.

"I'm dead"

* * *

"I'm just saying, is all," the large Russian man says while dismounting his green Argent, "Ve help now, he helps vhen ve need it."

"Now, Stefan," André responds, "We have tried that once, remember. Didn't exactly work out well."

"That vas one time, André. Thingz could be different this time around."

"Yeah, boss man," Katlyn says, putting the hide and pelt into the inventory of the Castoroides, "I hate agreeing with the bloke, but we could still help the new man."

André gets off the large bird and opens his canteen. "For ze last time, you two. We made an agreement with Alessandra."

"I know, it's just-" Katlyn is cut off.

"NO. We broke zat rule once. Now, we are a man down." The Frenchman scolds the two tribe members. "If you want to, you can go alone. I very much enjoy my life, and enjoy the existance of your two!"

The duo look at each other, but are caught off guard from the loud roaring in the distance. It was obvious to all three that Alessandra has found the newcomer. It was only a matter of minutes before they are dead.

"You zee?" André asks, "Already, the survivor is gone. You can't save anyone from that... maniac."

"Ve... Ve are sorry, André," Stefan apologizes for the two, "Ve just think ve could help."

"Aww, cheer up big guy," Katlyn pats the large man on the back, "Who knows? This one may be different."

André looks up and scoffs at this statement. "Ze only way this one could survive zis long, is if he found one of ze caves. And even zen..." The French trails off, not needing to finish the sentence.

"The Arthropluras." Stefan finishes. "Not even I could survive those."

The three look over the Island, knowing that Alessandra has obtained her prey. But then, they are all surprised by what happened next. There was a scream. A very familiar, feminine scream. And she sounded very, very, _very_ annoyed. That's never happened before. None of the tribe could figure out what this mean. Very slowly, Katlyn was the first to understand it. As soon as she did, she laughed.

"She lost him! I'd know that kind of scream anywhere!" Katlyn yells, alarming the two men, "It's the sound of failure!"

* * *

Alassandra was mad. No... she was _pissed_. She lost him. Even with her most trusted pack and the Behemoth, she lost him. She looked the survivor right in the eyes, and she lost him.

"No," the woman says to herself, "I lose no one."

She looks down to notice that one of the Dire Wolves are not present. Confused, she jumps off of the Rex to look closer. She looks down the path they came and see a white figure come from behind cliff. Lupo walks up to the group and growls, alerting them that he found something. Or someone. Alessandra simply smirks at this.

"Good boy, Lupo. Take me to him."


	5. Chapter 5: Fugent

I was cornered. In front of me was a centipede at least three times my size, and behind me was a manic on a Rex with a bunch of wolves, as well as a giant island filled to the brim with dinosaurs. Honesty speaking, not how I saw me spending my twenties. I expected more whores and blow. Both kinds. Maybe a steady job? Who knows. I defiantly don't because I'm in a cave with a gigantic insect! I look at the creature and try to figure out where it stands to me.

The beast is a good fifteen, maybe twenty feet long and about a foot and a half tall. The scales on this bug are a pretty cool, iridescent shininess, like how oil reflects light with heavy hints of purple and green. I couldn't see it's head as it was turned away from me, obviously not aware of where I am. It lets out a few more clicks and hisses before walking away from me. And God, the sound those legs make? Freaking terrifying. I'm lucky that thing didn't see me, or else I'd be no better off than Ol' Red. No, this thing would tear more off than just my arm. When I think I'm safe, I step out of my crevice, looking to see if there was any immediate dangers. I let out a sigh in relief, before noticing that was a huge mistake.

I hear the clicking again and look to the side. The same centipede was back, and this time _very_ close to me. We just look at each other for several seconds before Thief hisses at it. This apparently pisses off the bug, and it hisses back. I step back and try to equip anything, but the insect lunges at me. In a panic, I open my inverntory and just throw something at it. I only got a glance at what I threw, but I could tell that it was green and stunk. Then, the unbelievable happened. It turned away from me, and went towards the thing I threw. I look at what it was and saw that it looked like meat, but rotten and spoiled. The centipede simply looks at the meat for a moment before completely devouring it, losing all interest in me. After it finishes the disgusting meat, it looks at me again, not doing anything. Still in my state of shock, I notice I was ignoring something that amazed me once I saw. The tamed dino interface was above the insect. An Anthropluera, this thing was called, level three. Low level, but it looks like a good fighter. At least can scare something pretty good.

"So, buddy," I ask the creature, "you think you can help me? There's some bad chick out there and I need to get out."

The Anthropluera clicks at the command, and looks at the cave entrance. I took that as a sign that he-... she? This thing didn't exactly show a gender. That _they_ understood what I wanted.

I nod at the clicking. "Good bug. Let's go."

I stand up and turn around, facing the entrance. You look down at your new companion, who simply clicks at the entrance, and to your side at Thief, how chirps out loud. I breath in and start walking back out, getting yourself bathed in the bright sunlight coming through the trees. I look around and see that the Rex footprints are going away from the cave, followed by about four or five sets of canine prints. At least I'm fine for the most part right now. I look back towards the beach, feeling that may be a good place to head back towards. And I do just that. My small group and I tread through the bushes to the ocean, keeping a look out for the crazed woman, or any other dinosaurs in the area. As I think this, I look over a fallen tree and see none other than my good friends. The Dilos Greeny and Ol' Red.

Red was still without an arm, which filled me with a moment of regret. He was laying on the ground, bleeding profusely from the stub under his elbow. I look over and see that Greeny was carrying a small corpse of some kind, most likely a Dodo. It sets down the body next to the red dino and nudges it towards him, getting Ol' Red to take a hesitant bite from it. I watch him do this for a few minutes before I decide to walk away. Looking at this whole situation makes me feel kinda bad. Sure, they were trying to kill me, but what all do they know? They're just dinosaurs. Trying to survive just like I am.

I get back to tree line before the beach and look down the beach both ways. No Rex's and no wolves. Only a few Dodo's, the Trike from before, and a couple new... giant turtles? Yeah, ok, that's new. Pretty cool, though. One with a pink shell, one with a straight grey shell, and one with a kinda greenish shell. I take a few steps towards them and the pink shelled one growls at me. It's a pretty loud growl, too. It'd make a pretty good guard animal. I think I might keep these guys around for a while, in case Rexy and the maniac chick shows up again. I look behind at the forest to see if there's any signs of the threats. None from what I can see. I look down the beach and see that my little wooden hut is still standing, somehow.

I walk down the sandy ground to my makeshift house. I open the door and look around. Everything was the same pretty much. I shouldn't be so secure right now, never know when they'll show up again. Gotta keep moving, that's the trick here. I step inside and look at Patches, to be greeted by her normal caw noise. I smile down at the Dodo and walk over. I pat the bird's head and look around. I don't know why, but I feel like this won't be here long. At least, I know I won't be here long.

I whistle at the bird and turn around. I'm not going to stick around long. The maniac knows where my base is. She's sure to come back soon. That's why we're moving inland. It's literally the third worst idea I've ever, but it seems to be better than where I am now. At least out there I can hide easier. Just hope this better than that Fourth of Ju-Luau idea and getting into that shipping argument with those Homestucks. Crazy motherfuckers, that fandom. Well, I better get a move on. Goodbye wooden shack.

I step out of the house and look at the woods again. The forest still had a large path of destroyed trees in it, marking where I definitely _won't_ be going. I look to the left to a river heading towards the inside of the island. Probably not the safest place, as it's out in the open, but it can give me a landmark to return to. My group and I walk towards the to the river and look down. A couple dinos stand around the waterway, but they all seem pretty harmless. I assume. I don't know what half the things on this island are. I never payed attention in science. Probably listed everything I'd need to survive out here. Oh well, it's somewhere to start I suppose.

* * *

The wolf pack followed the white furred leader to the mouth of the cave. Lupo had led them back to the point where Alessandra lost the new survivor. The woman rode in behind the group and jumped off the Rex. She walked up to Lupo to see that he was pointing into the cave.

"Perfect," Alessandra said, "Nobody can survive in there, especially after they just started. Anthropluera kills anything that finds their way into this hole." Alessandra laughs at this before noticing one thing. Lupo was still sniffing the ground. There was still a recent scent.

The woman leans down to the wolf. "What is it, Lupo? Is there something else?" The Dire Wolf looks up, with a slight expression of meloncholie. Alessandra was actually slightly surprised by this. Lupo only looks like this on three occasions: in presence of a her mad, in the presence of the Abomination, and when he smells an Anthropluera. "Where is the bug, Lupo?" Lupo turns around and starts running, causing the other wolves to follow. Alessandra mounts Behemoth and goes towards the beach.

The large group walks onto the beach where they first found the new man. This beach is always so calm aside from the sounds of the Ichthyornis' in the air. Alessandra always hated it. There is no excitement or dangers, aside from the occasional Dilo or Carnotaurus, but those arejust a bunch minor inconvieneces. But, these aren't what Alessandra was interested in. What she was interested in, was the two sets of foot prints in the sand. One human, one more insect like. Not just any insect, though. A centipede set of prints.

"Are. You. KIDDING ME!" Alessandra yells out into the sky. She has never seen anyone able to tame one of those creatures. The bugs don't have an inventory when they are knocked out, and no one can get close enough to passively tame them. This shows that the survivor is even more dangerous than she thought. It also shows that the survivor is better at Alessandra at something/

Alessandra thinks for a second and proceeds to have one of her near-famous tantrums.

"THIS, this... Goddamn NOBODY thinks he can come onto MY Island and be better than me! ME? Nobodies better than me! _Giuro su Dio_ I will find this man and rip his soul out with my BARE HANDS! My wolves will tear anything this _bastardo_ holds into pieces! There will be no threats to my power on this Island!"

While Alessandra does this, her wolves simple look on with obvious fear. These outbursts then to lead to something getting killed, hit, or tortured. Hopefully she'll take the turtles on the beach. After she finishes the tantrum, Alessandra looks down onto the beach to see a little wooden structure. Perfect for some anger management. Alessandra mounts her Behemoth charges to the building. When she arrives at house, Alessandra wastes no time at stomping, biting, and everything possible to destroy the building. After the shack has been smashed into nothing but splinters, Alessandra had finally calmed down a little bit.

Alessandra brushed off the anger sweat from her head and looked down the rest of the beach. She takes notice of the foot prints again and follows them to the river. This is the only way he could have gone. Taking from memory the layout of the Island, Alessandra can cut off the survivor by the Redwoods. With this information, Alessandra takes her wolves and Behemoth into the woods again.

* * *

Against André's wishes, Katlyn has taken her Argentavis, Plague, to see for herself the new guy. She wasn't going to help him, just like with André and Alessandra had promised, but Katlyn's just going to observe until the time they can help. Nothing wrong with that, and it totally stays in the confides of the agreement.

Katlyn flies over the Redwoods and the surrounding river. She looks down and sees that there are a pair of figures on the ground, one looking human and another one looking... what is that? It's too far for Katlyn to properly tell what the figure looks like. Against her own better judgement, Katlyn lowers herself closer to the ground where she could watch closer. Katlyn is taken by surprise to see that the creature walking behind the new survivor was an Anthropluera! Katlyn is taken in by the sight of the bug both being above ground, and not attacking anything around it.

Interested, Katlyn goes down and lands near the duo, obviously catching both of their attention. The man simply looks around in a very scared expression, while the bird on his shoulder hisses at the bird, while the Anthropluera clicks a couple of times.

* * *

I turn around at the sound of wings flapping, only to see a giant, black eagle looking bird land behind me. And on top of the bird was, surprisingly, another woman. The woman looks at my Anthropluera, who I named Oilslick because of the color, and then at me before hopping off the bird. In a moment of confused panic I instantly equip myself with a spear. The woman shows no fear from this and instead laugh at this. She keeps looking over at Oilslick, showing signs of caution before walking up to me. When she gets to a decent distance to me, she holds out her hand obviously for me to shake it.

"Cheers, sir," the strange, extremely British sounding woman says, "The name's Katlyn."

I look at the woman for a second before slowly shaking her hand, ending up with my own hand smashed by the skinny ladies surprising strength. "Uh, Greggory. Nice to meet you, I guess?"

"Damn right it is! Right now, I'm the nicest thing you'll see around here! Especially with old Alessandra after you."

"Is that what her name is?"

"Kinda tall, bunch of wolves, maybe trying to kill you. Yes sir, that's Alessandra for ya!"

The woman, Katlyn seemed a bit too... cheery for such an extreme situation.

"Yeah, well, don't forget the Rex. That's a pleasant surprise."

To this statement, Katlyn looked confused and a little worried. "Rex? When the hell did she get a Rex? Gotta give her some props there."

"I-ok, I'm really sorry, but what the hell is going on?"

"Oh boy, where to start?" The woman holds her confused look before shrugging. "Well, first thing is that you, good Greggory, are on The Island! Home of dinosaurs and creatures of a forgotten age!"

"Ok, I kinda figured that one. What about that Ale-whatever-the-hell trying to kill me?"

"Right, that is Alessandra. She's kinda the Alpha of The Island. Also, she hates new comers. Thinks they'll try to overthrow her or something."

"Huh, can you say 'paranoid' in any other words? Why would anyone want to overthrow some stupid island? Why would anyone want to rule this place?"

"I don't know, but she's kinda crazy in my opinion."

"Yeah, no shit."

"Also, she's going to be hunting you for about three days until me or my Tribe can help you."

"Three days! Why that long?"

"Hey, it's what my leader and Alessandra agreed on. Sorry about that."

"Ok, well how can I survive this insane crazy chick?"

Katlyn simply laughs again. Is this some kind of game to her? "Well... run, hide, or try to fight back. Although, fighting and running are kinda useless with her Dire Wolves."

"Ok, totally not reassuring. Any other way to survive?"

"Uhh... prove that you aren't a threat? Although, with the Anthropluera you've got there, I think you've thrown that out the window. Even she doesn't have that."

"Anthropluera? Oh, you mean Oilslick here, right?" I look down at the bug to my side, knowing she meant him.

"Oilslick? Dumb name, but ok. Yeah, if she knows you have him, she already hates you."

"Alright, but why though?"

"No one's ever been able to tame one of those things. How'd you do it?"

"Uh, I just threw some rotten meat at it, and he ate it."

Katlyn tilts her head at this statement, "Are you serious? Just like that?"

"Yeah. Scared the hell out of me, but it worked somehow."

"Alright then, I don't if I believe that or not. But, that's beyond the point. Alessandra hates you, I can't help until the end of tomorrow, and you better start running because she's by the Redwoods down there."

"I-wait, what now?" I turn around and see that Katlyn was right, as I see the woman, Alessandra, standing by the water on her Rex, joined by four wolves. I turn back around and see that Katlyn has already remounted her bird, about to take off.

"Well, if you live until tomorrow, I'll see you around." She said this and flies off, leaving me to the crazed woman and her creatures.

I look back to Alessandra and stare for a few moments. After about half a minute, she whistles and all of her Dire Wolves charge at once, lead by a very large, white one. In a second of mass fear and confusion, I whistle myself and instantly, Oilslick spits some type of green liquid at the wolves, causing them all to stop suddenly and step back from the splatter of acid. Apparently, everything on The Island is fearful of the Anthropluera-at least it's spit. In the few moments I still had, I took the advantage and rushed across the shallow river in to the giant forest. I have ran so Goddamn much today.

* * *

 _A/n: New update came out the other day. More stuff to work with. Nice._


	6. Chapter 6: Venatrix

I was running for my life. That's kinda all I cared about right now. I just ran. I ran past what looked like a deer, another Carno hoping it didn't see me, and literally a shit-ton of gigantic trees. I didn't pay attention to any of it. I knew Thief was with me, he was on my shoulders still, Patches, well... she's a Dodo. They kinda seem abundant no matter where I go. I was going only on sound, but I heard Oilslick clicking and occasionally spitting behind me. I felt a little safe at the moment. Y'know, aside the maniac, Alessandra and her Rex and Dire Wolf pack after me. I'm fine for the moment I feel. At least, I did feel fine until I heard the road again. Oh, and howls. Of course there are howls. And... yelling. Crazy chick yelling. I definitely know that sound.

Well, I couldn't be safe for much longer. There are way, way, _way_ too many variables against me right now. I'm low-leveled as all hell. My creatures are low-leveled as all hell. Alessandra was most likely high-leveled as all hell, _and_ she had a militia. And, as the icing on the cake, I'm down to my last spear. I honestly feel there's a very small chance of survival. I even started writing my will in my head. 'I, Greggory Villes, leave all my worldly possessions to be equally distributed between my three dinosaurs, Patches, Thief, and Oilslick.' Yeah, that works. Although, I don't even know if these three are going to be alive long enough for that. I worry that I won't considering that I need to stop. I mean, I literally have to stop, my body is completely depleted. All my stamina has run out.

I was in a small clearing, maybe about two hundred feet from any trees in all directions. A few Trikes, a Dilo, what I only assumed was a Stegosaurus, and two of those giant bird things Katlyn rode in on were standing around. Seems like a decent place to rest for a minute. As soon as I start to rest though, my stomach starts twisting itself in my gut. I opened my Implant and see that not only in my stamina empty, but so is my food. In a moment of desperation I eat the majority of berries in my inventory. I watch as the food percentage rises slowly, only to fall so my stamina raises. I also take this moment to add points to everything I need to. I had three points to add from my leveling. I think for a moment and add to my health stamina, and movement speed. Keeps it kinda balanced, I guess. After a few moments, I notice my stamina has risen completely, allowing my to run again. Good.

I close the inventory to see that the Trikes have ran away, along with the Stego, Dilo, and birds. That can only mean one thing. I take a minute to listen and catch where Alessandra was coming from. Once I heard the roar from the far left of me, I did the smartest thing possible and turned right and ran. I enter the tree line and find the largest tree I could and hurry behind it. Oilslick arrived directly behind me and I open it's inventory to level it up. Two more levels on it. Makes it a level five now. Still too low to do any good, but it works. I put the points into melee damage and health. Gotta make this boy a tank if I want to survive. And now I'm refering my giant, prehistoric centipede as a tank. I am literally going crazy. Although, that's not that surprising as I've been making a mental jornal of everything that's been happening with a lot of obvious spelling problems and plot holes.

...Holy shit, I am crazy.

I look back around the tree and see, once again, Alessandra on her Behemoth. She seems unaware of my location until one of the wolves looks up and barks. Great. I feel as though Rex Chick has an unfair advantage here. Along with the pack animals, she also had a... oh, you have got to be shitting me. Is that a Goddamn _machine gun?_ How in all manners of hell did she get a gun on this Island? I mean, how long has this girl been on this Island to be advanced enough to make fire arms? Didn't think it was possible, but I am even more terrified now. So, taking in this information, let's see all of my problems are now: a crazy chick on a T-Rex, a pack of Dire Wolves, a Goddamn machine gun, an advanced knowledge of the Island's layout, and, to wrap it all up in a neat little bow, I am more than certain I'm going crazy. So far, the second worst weekend I've ever had.

After a second I start running again. Honestly feels like a a fruitless effort right now, but got to have a little bit of hope. Yeah, hope and a hell of a lot of stamina. Of which, I have very little in comparison to Alessandra and her wolf militia. Holy crap, I am just lowering any thoughts of surviving this. That is the one thing I can't be doing right now. I look behind me and see that one of the Dire Wolves is on my tail, the big white one. This is a terrible idea, but I turn around and equip my spear. The wolf stop about ten or so feet from me and gets into a defensive stance. I stand ready to attack and whistle, enticing Oilslick to attach at the wolf again. I watch the wolf and am startled by the other three arriving right behind it. After several moments I take a step forward, only to notice all the wolves turn around for apparently no reason. Then, I heard something. It sounded like the same screaming before, but actually making words. Almost like Alessandra was yelling... I couldn't quite make it out.

Mine?

Yeah, she was definitely yelling 'mine'. She kept yelling it as I watched her walk up on her Rex, stopping in front of the wolves. After a second, Alessandra jumps down with her gun and smirks evilly at me. She looked me dead in the eyes and once again said, "Mine."

We stood at a simple stand-off, staring each other down for a good minute. The only difference is that I was extremely more terrified. Thief on my shoulder made a very quiet hissing at the woman and Oilslick was clicking even louder. I had no idea where my Dodo was, but to be honest I didn't give two shits. The Rex looked down at me with a low growling, along with Dire Wolves barking every so often. Unsure of what to do, I did the most idiotic thing humanly possible. I put down my spear and held out my hand.

"H-hey," I said to the women, only to get a confused look, "Name's Greggory."

Alessandra did something I was very surprised at. She looked at my hand, and then shook it. Although, it was an extremely hate-filled shake. "Alessandra," Alessandra introduced herself, "Surprised you'd pull such a stupid move."

"Yeah, well... I'm kinda an idiot." This line got a small chuckle from Alessandra. That's good. I'm making her laugh.

"So, Greggory," she asked, "What are you doing?"

"Oh, you know... just, running around."

"Running around."

"Yeah, running round."

"Trying to get away from me?"

"Trying to get away from you?"

"Are you?"

"No!"

"Good. Because that would be bad."

"How bad?"

"I'd have to kill you."

"That's bad." I don't know why, but I feel I've been in this situation before. At least seen it somewhere.

"Indeed." Alessandra looks down at my insect. "What do you have there?"

"Oh, that's just my bug. He spits poison. And nothing else."

"Well, yes, that's what an Anthurpluera does. _Idiota._ "

" _Idiota?_ What is that, Italian?" I ask, trying to stall so I could think of something.

"Yes, it is," the woman answers with a smile, "Thanks for noticing. Everyone else thinks it's Spanish."

"Really? Those two honestly sound nothing alike to me." Was I getting on her good side just by talking to her?

"Exactly!" Alessandra laughs at this. "The only smart person I've met on this Me forsaken Island. Too bad I'm going to blow your head off." As she says this she aims the gun at my head again. It's obvious that talking wasn't a way out of this.

I raise up my hands as to try and pause her at least for a moment. "Wait, wait, wait! I have an idea!"

Alessandra keeps her gun pointed at me, but doesn't fire. It looks like she's trying to think. After a few moments she lowers the machine gun a little. "Speak."

"Oh, dear God, thank you." I lower my hands and try to gather myself. "Okay, look. You obviously have some kind of superiority complex going on here, right?"

"I suppose you can call it that, yes."

"Well, uh, that would mean you'd like a... true fight, or something?"

"I _long_ for one."

"Good! So, how about you let me go. And maybe after, I dunno, I figure out what the hell I'm doing, we can do this for real?"

Alessandra stands there for a minute before finally lowering her weapon completely down. "Do you know what the worst part about this is?"

"What?"

"I know you're playing me. But you're right."

"What? I'm not playing you at all!" I was lying tremendously. I am trying to play this maniac like a fiddle.

"Alright, Greggory." Alessandra said finally. "I will give you one more chance. You get a twenty minute head start, and when your time is up, I will find you and shoot you in the head. Along with your bug and bird."

"Sounds fair enough to me!" I was filled with a giant amount of happiness, but still scared as all hell since she's going to chase me again.

Alessandra laughs again at this. "Oh, no, this is not fair at all. Honestly I'm only giving your this time because I am actually interested in what you can do. You've tamed an Arthuropluera, something I've not even been capable of doing. There is potential, but that also makes you a threat." She turns around and gets on the Rex again. "Just so you know, I am not a merciful person. You are alive now because of pure curiosity. Also, you are a little funny, I will give you that."

"Oh. Thank you, I guess?"

"Don't thank me too soon. You still have... around thirty-two hours until anyone can help you." Alessandra turns her miniature army around and begins walking. "The clock is ticking, Greggory." With this, she starts walking away.

"Alright, see you later then! Hopefully not, but I'm certain we will!" Once she leaves, I turn around and book it. Not even giving a damn, I start running again. My legs hurt beyond all hell, but I will literally keep running until they fall off. I've still got a little time to keep myself alive. Maybe I can get something else to keep my ass safe.

* * *

Why did she give him more time to run? She could have killed him, then and there, but she didn't. Alessandra thought about this as she rode away from the straggling survivor. There was something about this one, something different. In all eleven years on this Island, She has never felt this about any survivor before. It wasn't a will to fight, that was obvious. Nor was it any form of intelligence. That was even more obvious. There was something about his... arrival here. Something that told Alessandra that this would be her last bit of fun ever. Last time to hunt a new survivor.

She looks down at the wolf pack under Behemoth and thinks. She's not used to thinking about the survivors of the Island, but something was pushing her to. For the first time, Alessandra thought about what would happen when this all went away, if this place can even go away. Deep down inside of her, Alessandra knew that it could. Everything does.

* * *

Katlyn was now currently flying over the snow covered forest of the Island's North. She looked down at the sea of white with it's few specks of brown from the Mammoths and Rhinos. Katlyn loved just watching the Island. Something about it's unnatural beauty was just compelling to her. It often took her mind off of the fact she was trapped. That everyone here was trapped. Although, that thought was feeling strange today, as it did the day before. Ever since the new guy, Greggory, showed up, Katlyn has been feeling weird about not only him but also the Island in general. She's been here for several months now, but has never felt this. It was strange sense of mortality. Like she could finally feel the chances of dying here.

* * *

Stefan and Andrè had arrived back at their base under the Obelisk. Their day had been long yet slow, but it was rewarding. They had returned with several dozens of hide and pelt, along with a brand new Sabercat. Took nearly three hours, but itt never hurts to have a new hunter. Especially now, since the Island has grown more violent over the years. New creatures and features appear every several months or so, it's gotten hard to live in safety. So hard, that the thought of survival seemed like a pointless effort. Ether it be by dino, or weather, or a war-hunger Alessandra, or even some force unknown to all of them, there was no safety on the Island. Inside, they all knew this hunk of rock would be their tomb. The only memorials being the strange glowing artifacts they have from the caves. Nothing important will be remembered. There was nothing.


	7. Chapter 7: Insidiis

Have I ever mentioned I hate running? Not formerly, but as of the past two days. For some reason, trying to escape a T-Rex riding, wolf-pack having, crazy woman kind of ruins it for me. No real idea why to be honest.

It's been maybe ten or fifteen minutes since Alessandra gave me the head start. I don't know how much of an advance I've made, but I knew that I was a good ways ahead of her. Maybe. Hell, I don't know. I'm scared out of my mind to be honest, and the giant bears, dog-sized bugs, and Carnos aren't helping in any way shape or form. Not even my giant, acid-spitting bug could make me feel any safer at this point. Neither does my extreme lack of protective weapons. I should probably do something about that. I reach a small, fallen tree in a minor clearing filled with bushes and a couple Dodos. I sit on the tree and try to regain my strength, and think about what to make for defense. Suddenly, I am hit with a thought.

I open my inventory and look at the items I currently have; some wood, thatch, fiber, flint, stone, and berries. With the minimum amount of resources I have, I take out my fiber and wood. I look at the objects and think about how to do this. I wrap the fiber around the wood in a way that almost resembles an old fashioned bow... Oh my God, this is terrible. But it'll work for the moment. Now to the next part. I get out my thatch and flint and start to build some arrows.

After I make around thirty or so arrows, I equip them to my bow and put them both into my inventory again. I have a quick look around and watch the tree line for a minute. My stamina has regained but I still need some mental rest from the escaping. This is actually the first time I've looked around the Island without being in complete and total panick. Once you get past the insane inhabitants and virocious reptile creatures, it's a fairly nice place.

And than, I hear the roars. When I start feeling at least somewhat sat ease, something roars. Usually Alessandra and her Rex, but there are other things, too. Sometimes it's just a Cranotaurus, some kind of bird, I even think I heard something on a tree. Also, the trees are no where near as safe as I thought. I tried to take a small breather under one, but I was jumoed by some giant cat thing. I was lucky enough to have Oilslick spit on it. It was distracted, so I stabbed it a few times until my spear broke, to which I began to run away. Having no weapons here is a terrible thing. Especially with someone with the most dangerous weapons in history.

Trying to forget the roars and the unfortunate issue with the tree-cat, I equip my bow and keep running. With my new weapon, I feel even stronger than prior. Which is still extremely weaker than the last five things that tried to kill me.

Pushing the dark thought out of my mind, I go into a large brush to hide and/or run. I crouch down into the foliage and walk slowly, keeping my head and Thief out of visible sight. It seems like a good idea at the moment to be honest with myself. Then, I see something even better than a bunch of bushes. I almost jump out to run over to the new hiding place before I feel a very familiar stomping, followed by a very familiar war cry. I can say one thing, this chick likes to scream.

I hide in the shrubbery and wait. After a few seconds, all five wolves bust out of the tree line and observe the area. Followed, of course, is Alessandra and her Rex, doing a very brief sweep of the plain. The group looks around the field and walks toward the bush. I hold my breath and lower myself to the ground completely, equipping my bow. This is an awkward angle, but I could still hit everything if I shot full force. I arm the bow with an arrow and take aim, not firing to keep myself hidden. It's best to be ready and not use than need to use and not be ready.

"Oh, Greggory!" Alessandra shouts out, "Come out, come out, where ever you are?"

Oh great, now she's trying to summon me like in a crappy horror movie. Now, should I go out to the open? No. No I should not. Sadly, I fear that I have very little chance living out there, just like I have very little chance of surviving hiding right here. My chance of survival has been very nonexistant every since I got on this Island.

"Greggory! I am talking to you!" Alessandra rides into the field and looks down. She was basically right on top of me, give ten or fifteen feet. "Come on, are you scared? Is it because I have the gun, the Dire Wolves, and the T-Rex?"

I literally fought myself to keep quiet and not yell a very sarcastic 'no'. The wolves were starting to get very close to me, and I was panicking quietly. Thief stayed silent on my shoulder and Oilslick clicked lowly. I planned out how an escape would work if anything happened.

I would jump up quickly and fire at the first thing in my face. Oilslick will spit, causing everything around me to scatter in the weird fear. While they're distracted, I'll whistle for Thief to steal and send him towards Alessandra. He'll grab her gun, return to me, and we run away firing. If she starts chasing us, Oilslick spits again. If it lands on her, it should melt that metal armor she's wearing. That's what acid does, right? Pure perfection.

Alessandra jumps off her Rex and starts walking the trees, having her gun at the ready. "Oh, wow, I sure do feel winded after destroying your excuse of a base and hunting you down!" Oh, now she was mocking me. "Sure would suck if you jumped me a took my guns! Oh no, some dust in my eye! This is the worst!"

After several seconds of silence, Alessandra raised her gun to sky and fired, " _Prendi il cazzo qui!_ "

Well, she did seem a little distracted by this mild outburst. Maybe I could... Yeah, it's on.

I jump out of the bushes, catching the attention of everyone in front of me. As planned, I shoot an arrow at the closest wolf, hitting it in it's shoulder. The wolf stumbles to the ground, unable to move, and the others rush at me. At this time, Alessandra got over her rant and aimed down at me. I whistle and Oilslick spits at the woman, catching her off guard and losing her focus. I whistle again and Thief jumps off of my shoulder and leaps at Alessandra. Just as she was mocking about, Thief scratched at her Implant and runs back with a small bag. I pick it up and look into it. For some reason, the gun that Thief took went into this bag, and wasn't even her machine gun. It was a small, m9 pistol with about twenty in the clip. Good enough.

Stage two, the escape. I equip the gun and run the opposite direction. Sadly, I realized I didn't take the Rex into account and it started following me. Small damper in my plan, but it still works the same. Oilslick stops, turns around, and spits at the beast. The Rex is hit and starts smoking on the acid spot, stopping in its tracks. While the Rex is busy burning, one of the wolves is out of commission, and Alessandra is visually in shock, we all three turn and run away deeper into the Redwoods.

* * *

Alessandra was, as expected, beyond pissed at what just happened. Never had she once been struck with such shock from a beginner. But within this shock, there was something else. Something Alessandra hasn't before. "Huh, this is a new feeling. Pride in someone else." As she says this she looks into her inventory and notices the missing pistol, of which was of Mastercraft level. "Unfortunately, it is overshadowed by all this unyielding rage!"

The angry woman walks over to the wolf that was shot before. Even though it was sudden and fast, Greggory had a very good shot getting right into the joint area. The wolf whimpers and licks at the wound, having the other canines gather around it. Alessandra gets down on a knee and looks at the arrow. "Well, it won't be permanent, but you'll be out of commission for a while. _Damn che fastido di una persona viva._ "

Filled with a combination of anger from the sneak attack, revenge for her injured companions, and a strange pride in someone that was not herself, Alessandra begins walking in the direction Greggory had. As she does, the rest of the wolves follow her, Behemoth right behind. Seems like this has gotten more personal than it ever was before.

* * *

Great. Just great! I ran away, but I shot her wolf and acid-spit at her Rex. She's probably extremely mad now. Would I say pissed? Yes I would. I would indeed say pissed. And now I'm on her radar even more so than before. Actually, since she has guns and has been able to fine me no problem... Oh my God, does she actually have a radar? A GPS maybe, but a radar? Well, her arsenal appears to hold modern creations, so a radar isn't all that far off.

I walk out of the trees to another gigantic field at the foot of a giant mountain. Pretty big mountain too. Must have been something strong before, like a volcano. This is an Island, so it makes sense. Wow, I am literally in a life or death situation and I'm having a pointless inner monologue about the creation of this body of and filled with dinosaurs. Ok, two more escapes and then I'm letting her kill me.


	8. Chapter 8: Punga

This is a pretty good field to be honest. A few hills, lots of rocks, couple Trikes, Stegos, giant bird things, and some Dilos. Honestly, if I survive this, I might build an actual base around here. Than again, my chances of surviving are... you know what, I feel a little bit confident right now. I have a gun. One that says it's a 'Mastercraft' in the inventory. That must mean it's good, right? It also has some kind of inscription on the side. " _Per mano della regina._ " Italian. Gotta give it to her, don't know how long she's been here but she still has a great respect for her home country. If only I could have that. Oh, Canada. You produce nothing but humor for the rest of the world.

I walk farther into the field, trying to find a better place to hide or defend myself. Surprisingly, a huge, empty field is not the best place for hiding places. Although, with all of the dinos around, I could make some kind of diversion. Scare the shit out of a Trike and make a mini stampede pointed at Alessandra... and her T-Rex and many wolves... that could probably take them out like nothing. Ok, it's a good plan in theory.

There's borderline nothing in this field aside the giant reptiles and it makes me nervous. I've been too visible for my own comfort and safety. Much to my misfortune, I feel a thump on the ground. That means the quote unquote 'Queen' is getting close. But how? It's only be a few minutes, and she's slowed down with the damaged Rex. There's no way she's picked herself up that quickly. Then I feel it again, but weaker, like it's from a different place.

"I'm getting real tired of all this tactical bullshit, Greggory!" I hear the booming voice of Alessandra come up behind me. I've heard how loud she can scream, so I still have a decent amount of time before anything happens. Still, I need to hide or come up with a plan, and I've wasted all my mental abilities with that escape.

Another thump, followed by a second one. These thumps are too close together, and too far apart to be the same person. I swear, if that Katlyn girl has a T-Rex of her own, and some kind of battle of the giants thing happens, I will actually die from a heart attack. No time to think of that now. Need to hide. Maybe I can use the Trikes as a barrier? Sounds good enough for me right now. I run over to the group of dinos and crouch down behind them. Thief stands on shoulders to look over the green Trike, and Oilslick curls up behind me.

After a few moments of hiding and moving with the Trike, I see the giant carnivore come out of the trees. A large burn mark on its chest, a group of four wolves at it's feet, and a very pissed looking Alessandra in front of all of them. She had her gun out, finger on the trigger, pointed out where she was ready to kill anything she sees. And that's exactly what she did. As soon as a Dilo caught sight of her, it ran to her only to be shot in the face like nothing. She was obviously tired of this shit.

Honestly? So was I. And I was a little tired of running and hiding. Those are the two things I've done so far. I was out of options, still had a load of time before I could be helped, and was losing visibility from the approaching night.

Alessandra stood at the center of the field and fired her machine gun into the air, trying to catch my attention.

"Ollie, ollie, oxen-bitch! Get out here already so I can finish this shit off!" She was louder than her gun. Somehow, I have pissed her off so much, she was yelling louder than a machine gun right next to her head. Obviously, she was unaware of the gigantic thump on the ground. It looked like she wasn't the only one with a colossal beast.

I have very little chance of escape. I was completely open no matter what I do, and I don't think scaring these big guys will be a good enough distraction... Well, human beings have two instincts when it comes to danger, and I've already exhausted flight. So, I guess that just leaves...

Fight.

Finally deciding to grow a pair, I stand up from behind the Trike, equipped with the pistol I stole from her. "Hey, Alessandra! Over here, by the Trikes!"

Alessandra stopped her shooting and looked over to me, showing a very angry smile. "Well, look who finally decided to show his face!" She starts walking towards me, the wolves and Rex right behind her. "You've caused me quite a migraine, you know that?"

I aim the gun directly at her face, causing her to stop in her place and aim back at me. "Yeah, and you've caused me quite the... I don't know, you scared me shitless, ok?" I didn't have time to think of something smart to respond, but I tried to stall for both that and how to get out of this. "Look, I don't know what your deal is, but I just want to get out of here."

" _Il mio affare_ , Greggory, is that you have done the most damage to me and my pack of any newcomer. Do you know how much that makes me worried of my status of the ruler of The Island?"

"Ruler? I don't care about ruling anything! I don't even want to be here!"

"And neither do I, but this is what we're dealt with." As she talks, the wolves start circling around her, walking towards me. "Thing is, some of us deal with what we're dealt a bit better than others."

"So, if you don't want to be here, why don't you try to leave? You know, like I am?" I don't know why reasoning with her would do any good. It was obviously impossible. "How about, instead of killing me we could-"

Alessandra laughs and cuts me off, "We could what? Get out of here? Find some way off The Island? It's impossible, Greggory! Impossible!"

I didn't know what she was getting on about, but I knew one thing. Talking? Not going to work. Fighting? She's got Dire Wolves and a T-Rex for God's sake! Although, she did say something about a superiority complex, so maybe...

"Alright. Fine." I drop the gun and stand straight up. "If there's no reasoning with you, I guess that just leaves fighting. So come on then. Drop the gun, and get over here." Holy shit, was I seriously mocking her right now?

When I say this, I see that confused look again. " _Scusami_? What now, new guy?"

"You heard me. If you're really as great as you say, drop your weapon and fight me like a real ruler! No dinos! No guns! Just you, and me!" Oh my God, I was seriously doing this. Ans as I'm doing this, I feel that thump again. It was closer this time. Alessandra still seemed oblivious to this, mostly because she was laughing her metal-armored ass off.

"You-you can not be serious right now?" She was struggling to speak, visibly not able to get in air from her manic laughter. "You? Fight me? Hand-to-hand?"

"Yeah, what's so funny about that?"

"Do you know how many of you _idiotas_ have tried that before?" She stopped talking and gathered herself, catching her breath. "Look Greggory, I'm giving you an option here. Either go down with my gun and it be very quick, of go down by my hand and have it be painful the entire time."

Unsure on how to respond to this, I do the only thing I felt I could do. I look at Oilslick and whistle. After practicing a little, I figured out which whistle stands for stay and pacify. I then put Thief down on the ground and do the same before turning around, making my hands into fists, and getting into a fighting stance.

Alessandra simply sighs and does what I did to her Rex and wolves. She drops her gun behind her. She then takes off her metal armor to show simple cloth clothes like mine and gets in a fighting stance as well. "So be it you ignorant annoyance. Prepare for the last fight of your life."

"Anything I should know before we do this?" Why did I think that I could get any information out of her to help me? This was stupid as hell.

"Look here, Greggory, I will tell you this much; I am the strongest thing living on this Island. Bar none. Minus one exception, but you're never going to meet them." With that very cryptic knowledge, she charges at me. Time for a fight that decides both of our lives.

Bad thing about living in Canada, you're brought up too nice. Good thing, our schools actually very nice boxing clubs and a hard bully problem. Self defense and fighting was nothing new to me, and neither was fighting dirty. I waited for Alessandra to get close to me and timed my first move right. At about four feet away, I crouched down to trip her. I don't know how it worked, maybe it was luck, maybe she was sorry for me, but Alessandra fell. On my most weakest move, she fell.

Unfortunately for me, as soon as I stood back up she grabbed behind my knee and pulled. And according to the laws of gravity, as soon as I lost my station to the ground, I fell with her. It wasn't long before I felt the first blow against my face. She was able to get a quick hit in while I was disoriented and blasted the other side of my face. I got a second and looked up, only to see Alessandra standing up again. Fearing getting kicked while I'm down, literally, I try to pick myself up too. Sadly, this ends with me getting kicked in the gut as she does indeed kick me while I'm down.

I try to hold myself together as I fight to stand up. I get up and am once again hit, this time right in my chest. I straight up force myself to fight both the pain and lack of air and hit Alessandra back. I watch as she simply looks back at me slowly with a smirk. "Thank you sir, may I have another?" She was both mocking me and being extremely sarcastic and coy. At that moment, I realized I was kinda screw. In my fear and complete pain, all I could say was, "Aww, crap baskets." To which, I was met with an even stronger blow right to my nose, which I am now certain is broken.

Which I think finally caused me to throw myself over the edge. I was going to mess this shit up, hardcore.

* * *

The Mountaineers were flying as fast as their birds would allow. They knew what was coming, and they knew that Alessandra was the best way to avoid what was undoubtedly going to happen. At this time, if the new guy was still alive, they most likely be at the volcano. Right in the path of the Abomination.

Katlyn looks behind her and calls to the leader and large Russian. "Do you guys really think this is going to work? We're down a person since last time this happened!"

Stefan looks down at the ground where the monster was racing under them. "Look, if anyvone can kill it, she can."

"Yes, but you forget. She is preoccupied with Greggory! She probably won't care!"

The leader flies past the two and hovers over the field of the volcano. "You two, be quiet! I think I see them!"

The remaining Mountaineers stops behind him and look down. They were both surprised at what they were seeing. It almost looked like the new guy, Greggory, had a hold of Alessandra and was actually landing a few blows on her! At least, that's what it looked like from a pretty large height and almost dark. That's when they heard someone yelling that wasn't Alessandra. It was hard to make out but it almost sounded like...

* * *

"Kidney punch!" I yell as I land another hard punch into the maniacs side. "Kidney punch, kidney punch, kidney punch, pause..." I stop for simple dramatic effect, only to have her struggle and get punched again, "And... Kidney punch!" I laughed a little as I saw Alessandra cough out some blood before I drop her. I look down at the woman as she once again picks herself up. I have to say, this woman was durable. She stands in front of me again and wipes the blood from the side of her mouth. "That all you got, weakling?"

"Jesus Christ, woman, what are you made of? Like seriously, this is inhuman!"

She only let's out a very croaky laugh with this before smiling again. "Oh, isn't it obvious? I am made of one hundred percent, unadulterated badass. And there's nothing you can do to keep me from killing yo-" Alessandra is cut off as Katlyn lands down in front of us, along with two others on similar birds. I couldn't tell that well from the lack of light, but they looked like they were anxious to say something.

That's when one of the men jumps off the bird and looks at both of us. "Alessandra, great! New guy, you're still alive. zat's good."

"Andre!" Alessandra yells, "What are you three doing here! We have an agreement. He still has another twenty-four hours."

The man, apparently called Andre, once again talked. "Look, forget about ze agreement, we have bigger fish to fry. And by fish, I mean reptiles."

Confused, I intervene the conversation, "Excuse me. New guy, name's Gregg. Uh, what about bigger reptiles to fry?"

Now, Katlyn hops off and takes over the explaining. "Well, I thought we ought to inform you that a certain... _someone_ is on his way right now."

With this, I see an expression I never thought I'd see on Alessandras face. It was the undeniable look of fear. I didn't know what this 'someone' was, but I feel it had something to do with the growing footsteps coming near us. Alessandra steps back from the tree line. "What!? No, not him!"

"It's actually coming very close right now. And he looks pretty mad. More so than you, Alessandra."

"No..." Alessandra was only able to utter this before falling to her knees.

Confused, scared, and curious I decide to finally ask, "What? What is this _someone_?"

"No, no we can't." Alessandra was visibly shaking from fear. "Don't you see you fool? We're doomed, we are all going to die here!"

"WHY? What is it, Alessandra!"

Alessandra finally snapped out of her moment and looked at the forest. "What's in there is an abomination against God himself. Something the devil would fear to create. It's..."

Before she finished, a colossal creature burst through the trees with an ear-shattering roar. It was the most terrifying thing I've ever seen. It was a good two, maybe three times bigger than a T-Rex, with arms that were long enough to actually do something. It's scales were white with red alnog the bottom, and it was covered in scars, bullet holes that didn't heal right, and obvious signs of explosions. Its head was the exact same as a Rex's, hold the large spikes on top of it. Everything in the field began to run away as it enters and asserts itself.

As soon as it was visible, Alessandra finally finished saying it's name, "A Giga."

As soon as she says this, as though on cue, the beast looks directly down at us. I could have sworn it's eyes were glowing yellow. I could physically feel the rage coming from it.

"Well, Greggory," Alessandra says to me, "remember that I said there was one thing stronger than me? Well, there he is."


	9. Chapter 9: Pars Una Prelium

All five of us were staring at the Giga, and it was staring right back at us. The sun was basically down, but there was enough light to see it. There wasn't a single noise coming from anyone or anything. There was no clicking coming from Oilslick, no growls from Alessandra's wolves, no ruffling from the birds. Nothing whatsoever. I knew what this was. I always hear it in stories and movies, but I never thought it would be anything I'd actually face. It was the calm before the storm. Funny enough, it was actually starting to rain some. There will literally be a storm within a storm.

I looked over at Alessandra. She was beaten and bruised and bleeding from our fight, just like I knew I was. She may be beaten, but she was far from done fighting. I look over at Katlyn and the two new guys. They already had weapons pulled out; a piston, a machine gun, and a shotgun. I look behind me at my dinos. They were low-leveled and weak as well. I looked past them to the mountain. Nowhere to run. Then, I look at myself. Not literally of course, but mentally. I was weak. I was tired. I was beaten far more than Alessandra did to me and I didn't have my gun. In my opinion, I personally was screwed. These four maybe good, but I'm done.

Finally, I look back at the monster. That's the best word possible to describe this thing. A monster. It's body was covered in signs of battle. Hundreds of scars along it's body, even more gunshots that didn't heal properly, and I think even dark spots that might have been sign of explosions. I have no idea what this thing was, but I knew it was tough to be alive after all that.

That's when Alessandra leaned over and whispered to me. "Guess it's your lucky day Greggory. You don't get to die by my hands." I couldn't tell if she was trying to be funny, or if she was serious. And honestly, I didn't care. I did the math in my head and we have one in fucktillion chance of surviving this thing.

"Well, at least we go down together."

"Say something like that again, and there's nothing alive that can fix what I do to you." I feel as though that wasn't the best thing to say just there. Whatever. It's true no matter what.

I step back and reach for my gun on the ground. As I do, the Giga finally makes a move. That move being an eardrum rupturing roar before charging at us. As it did, I panicked and reached down and grabbed the pistol and whistled. Instantly, Oilslick clicks and rushes forwards and spits. The acid spit makes contact, bringing absolutely no response from the creature. Soon, one of the men, the tallest with the machine gun, starts firing directly into the monster, followed soon by the one with the piston and Katlyn with the shotgun. During this, Alessandra whistled as well and got her militia's attention. Soon, all four wolves and the Rex charged the Giga while Alessandra ran to her armor and weapon.

I knew I didn't have much in this gun, only about twenty, so I had to keep count. I already fired three, and only have seventeen left. I could tell that the gun did almost nothing to the Giga. Oilslick continued to spit and charge at the monsters feet, beginning to bite at it as soon as he reaches. The Rex comes up to the Giga at the side and charges head first into it's side, knocking it off balance. While it stumbled, the wolves pounced onto it, bite and clawing at everything possible. The new group keeps firing before Katlyn whistles at the birds. All three of them flew off and swooped down at the giant reptile. It was almost like all of these people fought this thing before.

"Katlyn!" I yell over at the woman over the gunshots. "How the hell are we going to kill this thing?"

She doesn't look over at me but talks and continues to fire. "I don't even think we can! This thing took over an hour last time!"

Last time? How many times have they done this before? Doesn't matter, this thing is going down. From what I've gathered from context, this is the first time Alessandra has had a T-Rex and no one knows what can happen with this. Personally, after remembering about the creature, I think our chances are pretty better now.

When the beast regained it's stance it leaned down and swiped at the wolves, knocking two of them against a tree almost forty yards away. I couldn't be sure, but from the loud snap I heard and the wolves not getting back up, the impact must have broken their spines. The other two keeps biting at its legs, one getting a strong bite at, what I assume is, it's Achilles. Like with the guns and acid spit, the Giga takes no notice of this. The birds keep scratching at it's eyes and face, keeping its attention decently well but not holding it from attacking the Rex. Once the beast gets an opening, it reaches up and bites down on one of the birds wings, throwing it down at the two men. Behemoth then bites at the Giga's neck, grabbing and holding on as hard as possible. I couldn't make out the color due to the darkness, but I was certain that liquid wasn't spit.

The two men next to Katlyn start to run away frm the fallen bird and toward the monster, climbing on top of rocks and getting higher positions. Most likely to get closer to the head. Meanwhile, Katlyn stays on the ground, but runs up to the monster and keeps firing. How many shells can that shotgun hold? When she gets decently close, she starts aiming towards the monsters stomach. A shotgun at that distance to a very vital part of the body? That is a hell of a lot of damage. I follow Katlyn's example and rush to the Giga, shooting it at near pointblank range. Fifteen. Alessandra apparently joins us and fires directly at the head.

"You're pretty good with that thing Greggory," Alessandra yells at me, "You shoot before?"

I didn't know if she was mocking me or not, but I take the compliment anyways. "Yeah, Boy Scouts for six years. Rifling merit badge was my first one. Basically the same concept."

"Boy Scouts, huh?" Alessandra asks, " _Fagotti."_

I didn't speak Italian, but I sure could understand part of that word. I'm not going to bring it up now, but I'll make sure to later. "Yes ma'am. Best years of my life. Although, never killed anything like this before."

She laughed at this for some reason. "And you're not going to today either!"

"Why do you people keep saying this? Is this thing really that hard to kill?"

Now, Katlyn joined in as she reloaded her shotgun. "Let's just say, this thing doesn't exactly die" Now, she was laughing at this. I really wish there was less laughing and more putting this thing down. I guess it's a good thing though. If you can make light in a bad situation, better chance you have at getting out of it.

I shoot at the beast again. Thirteen. There is just something throwing me off about this thing. It was barely reacting to any of the gunshots we're putting into it, and only slightly being affected by the wolves and Oilslick. Nothing was getting into this thing. It is literally impossible that something like this could both exist and has existed at one point in time on Earth. I didn't care to be honest. Everyone here had the right idea. Kill the Giga. Get out alive.

The monster swipes down again, narrowly missing Alessandra and hitting one of her wolves again. Some how, this one caught her attention the most. Alessandra lowered her gun and ran over to the wolf. I remembered it now. The big white one that was in charge of the pack under her. It's name was Lupo. It was the strongest thing Alessandra had, and, from how she was acting, it was also the closest. As she covered her wolf, me and Katlyn continued to unload into the Giga. I look over to the two men and see they are still firing from the rocks, but I see something else by them. On the ground, about ten or so meters away, was a small group, maybe four sets of glowing orange eyes. I could see they were connected to four bodies, very small and fast.

"Hey, Katlyn?" I ask over to the British woman. "What are those things?" I point to the eyes. When I do, Katlyn looks over and covers her mouth. She was extremely surprised and possibly terrified. I could only hear a very faint "No..." come from her.

"Those... those are Troodons!" She yells over the gunshots, catching the attention of the men and Alessandra. "This is bad! So, so bad!"

Soon, I was able to see what she meant. Apparently, there was still something in the field. From it's silhouette, it looked like a Stego. Although, the figure was gone as the four Troodons had jumped onto it and began tearing it apart. In a matter of maybe six seconds, the Stego was down and the Troodons were on the move again.

Sadly, that move they were on was directly towards all of us. While everyone else was, I can only assume, freaking out, I came up with an idea. We can't deal with the Giga by ourselves. The Troodons can take things multiple times it's size down like nothing. The Troodons seem like they would be a whole different problem to deal with. This will either be the best plan ever or this will backfire horribly.

I am willing to take that chance.

* * *

 _A/n: Short chapter, nooo... I'm sorry._


	10. Chapter 10: Pars Dos Prelium

In all honesty, this idea is both amazing and terrible. It can work perfectly, or, at an even more likely chance, kill us all faster. Considering I don't particularly care for most of the people around me and I will do literally anything to get off this Island, I am willing to take that chance. I look over at the outlines of the Troondons and back to the Giga and then down to Katlyn.

"I have an idea," I tell the Brit, "Get the whatever-o-dons to attack the Giga!"

Katlyn just looks at me, I can only assume with confused, and looks back at the small dinosaurs. After a moment she looks back at me and nods.

Katlyn tuns to the rock with the two men and cups her mouth. "Stafan! Andre! Get the Troodons attention!" With this simple command, Katlyn turns and keeps shooting the monster. Oilslick, the wolves, and Behemoth were still taking on the creature with everything they had, drawing blood from every attack. Sadly, these repeated strikes didn't bring much reaction from the Giga, as it still fought and moved as though nothing was happening.

The two men, Andre and Stefan, turned their attention to the group of small dinos. They both fired their weapons at them, catching their attention and making them charge. Thankfully, the things were too small to get onto the rock and only barked at the duo. Part one, complete. Now, for the hardest part of this plan. Part two. Gig-attention.

I look over at Alessandra who was still by her wolves side. She helped the canine up and looked over at us. She stood up and rushed along with Lupo to our side, holding her gun ready to begin again. "What about the Troodons?"

"Over by the rocks, I have a plan." I answer and point to the rock the small reptiles were around. "We're going to get those to kill that." I point back up to the Giga.

Alessandra looked at me, then the Troodons, then the Giga, then back to me. She let out an annoyed sigh and aimed at the giant beast again. "I'll do this, but that doesn't mean you're right. This plan isn't good, it's just all we have." Alessandra obviously didn't like the idea of doing this, but at least she's going along with it. "Just tell me where to shoot."

I smile and nod. This going better than expected. I look over at Oilslick still spitting on the monster and whistle. Oilslick pulls itself away and returns to my side. I didn't know if Alessandra knew what I had in mind with this, but she did the same. All the Dire Wolves ran back to her and Behemoth released it's grip on the Giga's neck. The Giga stumbled as Behemoth threw it with the release and looked back down at us. Not part of the plan. The thing started its way towards us, eyes glowling even brighter than before we were fighting. One of the two birds swoop down as it was returning to Andre and Stefan, only to get it's claws and legs bitten down on by the Giga. With simple turn of it's head, the beast throws the birds at Behemoth, hitting it across the head and stumbing.

"Alright, now we... uh," I stumbled on my thoughts for a second. I didn't plan for it going straight for us. Then I looked over at the rocks. Four little bodies were still clambering at the rocks before stopping. I then noticed that they were now looking at us. This was also not part of the plan but might actually work. "The rocks. Get to the rocks now!" As I say this I start running to the rocks with the other two men. Alessandra and Katlyn rush right after me, still shooting at the Giga. As planned, with no more things attacking it, the Giga starts chasing us. As an added bonus, the four Troodons started coming at us as well.

I get to the biggest, closest boulder that I find and jump on it, climbing the rest of it to the top. I turn back and see that Alessandra has done the same and is now shooting at the Giga. I try to find Katlyn and see she has ran past me. I see where she goes and notice it's directly in the directly in the path of the Troodons. I almost jump down to help her but stop as I see her literally punt the Troodon a good fifteen feet back. With her new opening, she finds a rock and climbs on top. Once on top I look over and see she was slightly limped. The thing must have gotten her before she kicked it.

With everything in place, I think about where I was actually going to take this plan. In all honesty, I only got to the part where both the creatures were after us. Did not have any idea how we were going to get them to fight each other. I look at the ground and see that not only did Oilslick leave somewhere, but the wolves were also retreating. That seemed like the best thing they could have done in this situation. I look over at the other people around me and see that they were all looking at me. Apparently, I was the only one here that was good at improvising.

"Alright, now we... wait for them to kill each other?" I was really unsure as to how that was going to happen, but I knew it would work.

Alessandra was the first to speak up as a Troodon jumped towards her feet. "And just how exactly is that going to happen, Greggory?" She kicked the small reptile down and towards the giant beast. "They aren't exactly natural enemies!"

As the Troodon lands near the Giga, I see that somehow it gets kicked by the monster. I look down and see that all the orange eyes were now focused on the big bad dino himself. Apparently, pissing one off brought the attention of the entire herd, and the entire herd was now running to the Giga. I look over at Katlyn. I could only assume by the silhouette in the dark but she look slightly scared. I looked to Alessandra that was almost right next to me. I could see her easier and I could see she was pretty impressed. I look behind us at the two men and... ok, no. They are way too far to tell what they could be thinking. Then, I finally look back at the Giga and Troodons.

With the very faint outline, I could tell this was a very bloody attack. Somehow, the Troodons have started climbing the monster, clawing and biting into it. I coud see the blood being thrown in the sky and the Giga trying to fight back. Just as I planned, the Giga was going down hard and fast. Then, I see the Giga rush sideways to the trees. It slams into it, knocking a Troodon off and stomping on it. Now, my plan was working even better! They were both dying in this fight!

I look over at Alessandra again only to see that she was smirking over at me. "Alright Greggory, I will admit. That worked somehow."

"Thank you." I say, triumphantly, "All improv."

I hear Katlyn speak from the side. "The heck's improv?"

"Basically, it's thinking on your feet as fast as possible, as best as possible. Usually follows a 'rule of three'."

"That," Alessandra says again, "was honestly stupid. You mean to say that was all on top of your head?"

"Yes."

"So, that could have gone wrong in so many ways, and you didn't even have a back-up plan?"

"Yes."

Alessandra let out another sigh. "Greggory, you are an idiot, yet a genius. That just makes you more of a threat to me."

I was about to say something before I hear a roar in front of us. We all look over to see the Giga was no longer covered in Troodons. In fact, all of the glowing orange eyes were gone, which could only mean the monster killed the little things. Strangely enough, the Giga was no longer focused on us. I looked up and saw that it's eyes weren't yellow like they were before. Somehow, fighting it's life out seemed to calm it a little. It roared one more time before turning around. It looked like the creature was tired. And in all honesty, I was too. It's late, and I need a nap and maybe some kind of medicine.

Yeah, defiantly need a nap.

Like, twenty consecutive naps.

Screw it, I needed a mini coma.


	11. Chapter 11: O Fortuna

I just stood there. That was all I really felt I could do. I just witnessed not only the biggest fight I've ever been in, but I've also seen so many things literally _die_ in front of my own eyes. Several of them were because of my own causing. In all honesty, my body was weak. Not only from the fight with Alessandra and the Giga, but also from how much I realized I've done in the past fourty-eight hours. I was brought to a strange Island in the middle of who the fuck knows, I don't even know if I'm even on Earth anymore. I built a small house in the span of maybe an hour, not having any building experience in the past and just knew what to do. I've used a rock in my wrist to level myself up like some kind of video game. I've been chased, beaten, and then assisted by a quite possibly insane woman with wolfs and a Goddamn T-Rex!

Honestly, the thing I needed the most right now was a nap.

I'm startled by one of the men lighting a torch, illuminating the whole field to show it covered in blood and dinosaur bodies. Seeing all of this, I nearly vomitted. I've never seen anything this bad before in my life. I look around and see that Alessandra has jumped off of her rock and was running to the wolves that the Giga threw into the tree. I'm not sure why, but I felt inclined to go after her. Jumping off of the boulder, I chase after the woman and stop behind her.

Alessandra kneeled down by the dead canines and petted their bodies. I couldn't see well with the limited light, but could almost see tears on her face. I didn't know what to say so I simply stayed quiet. I could feel that Alessandra and these Dire Wolves were very close. I've never been in this type of position before, grieving over something I've known for so long.

After a few moments, Alessandra stands back up. "Well Greggory," she finally says, "I guess you're a lucky exception. You have shown with your ability to think on your feet like that tells me that you're a much needed part on The Island."

"Why... is that?"

"Forty-one times. Forty-one times we've fought that thing, and never once had it taken less that an hour. You show up and suddenly we drive it off in a span of less than half an hour, with Troodons, no less. I cannot believe I am saying this, but I am..." Alessandra pauses for a few moments, noticeably trying to figure out what she was saying. "I am... impressed, with your actions."

I crack a faint smile with this, hurting my face from the, now returning, pain from our fight. "Well, that you Alessandra! You were pretty impressive out there yourself."

"Well, yeah. Awesome, remember?"

Katlyn intervenes into the conversation, "Seriously, how were you able to do all that?"

"Uh, excuse me? Awesome."

I could feel these guys were just teasing with Alessandra now, as Andre come into the talk, "It was far beyond amazing, even for you! It's weirdly cool."

Alessandra takes in a breath before sighing, finally realizing what they were doing. "You know what? You'd all better duck, because I'm about to turn left, and I don't want to hit you all with my-"

I cut her off here because I'm not sure how much we can get away with saying on here with only a T-rating. "Ok, we get it! We're sorry, you're awesome."

"Damn right I am." Alessandra turns around and looks over me and the other three people, "Well then. If everything is done here, Greggory, you're free to go. Just know this, if you ever do cross me, I will kill you. No matter how useful against the Abomination you are. Clear?"

"As crystal! Thank you!"

"No problem. Now, if you all will be off, I have to... bury my comrades."

Katlyn and the two men turn around and go back to the birds, both of which were more or less out of commission. I look at Alessandra again and think she might need a little help. "Well, y'know, I think we've got a little time before I can get anywhere. You want any help with the burial?"

Alessandra scoffs and turns back to me, obviously annoyed. "Look, Greggory. I am letting you live. There is no need to try and get on my good side."

"...So, I take that as a no?"

" _Partire!_ "

I take this outburst ot mean something along the lines of 'leave', so I just raise my hands and back away. There was still some minor hostility between us, that's honest enough to say. Nothing a few more life savings or near-death experiences couldn't fix. Seeing the way this Island works, that's more than likely going to happen a few time. I walk ove to the lit up group of people and their injured birds. I walk over to Katlyn, who was checking out the colossal wound on the green birds leg.

"So, hey, Katlyn! What, uhm, what do I do now? Or, we do now, what's going here?"

Katlyn doesn't look back and kneels down to the leg of the bird, "We? The hell said we?"

"Pardon? I thought you guys' thing was helping me-"

"Stop right there. We never said that. We said, that after three days, we can try to help you if you want."

"Yeah, well I do want y'alls help."

"But it's only been two days. Also, we have an injured bird that can't carry you."

I look over and try to see the birds leg. From what I could see, it was kind of mangled and twisted a way a leg should not twist. Also blood. Lots of blood. I see what she was getting at here.

"Oh... alright. What do I do until-"

"Oh my God, shut up! Find something to do! Sleep, hunt, build, tame, whatever! I'm trying to save our own asses here before something else comes up."

I just raise my hands apologetically and back away a little bit, turning back to Oilslick and Thief. "Understood. Sorry for being bothersome."

I walk over to the two animals and check them over. Thief was pretty good, only being a little shoocen up. Oilslick on the other hand, was kind of beaten up bad. His weird green blood obviously showing from his scales, some of which were either half off or completely thrown away somewhere. I pull up my Implant and go into the bugs inventory. He got a couple level ups, so that's a plus. Adding one to health, one to melee damage, and the last one to weight. Always could use more weight. "You alright there, Oilslick?"

The insect clicks a few times before settling itself back down. I look over to Thief and do the same, adding both points to health. I then pick up the bird and place him back onto my shoulder. I look around at the somewhat lit up area and notice something in the bushes. A small something with a green name hovering over it. A certain bird that wandered off a while ago. It as Patches! "There you are you stupid little bird!" This gets a few looks from the men and Alessandra before going back to the actual important work. That's what I need right now. Something important to do. What was it that Katlyn said, build something?

I stand up and look around and notice a pretty flat area. I walk over, followed by the two animals, and set down some wood, thatch, fiber, and anything else that could be used to build. I kneel down again and start making some form of foundation, until I am more than certain we are all caught off guard by a flash in the sky. We all look up and see... nothing really of interest. There was a slightly brighter than normal dot in the sky right where the flash was. It was just a dot, but it felt weird to look at. I look over and call out to Alessandra, who looked the most surprised out of all of us, "Hey, Alessandra! The hell is that thing?"

"It is a dot, you _colossale morone_. How should I know!?"

You know what? I deserve that. Why would anyone here know. It was a big flash in the sky only showing a small dot. Hell, a star was probably just born or something stupid like that. That's how stars work, right? A star is born and, after several thousands if not millions of years, there's a flash in the sky and a new dot is appeared. I never paid attention to that. Space scared me.

Turning away from the weird dot, I go back to building the foundation. This'll be fun. What, a good two or three hours in the middle of the night building a hut that'll probably be either abandoned of destroyed within a day or two? Always how I thought I'd spend my twenty-third birthday. Happy birthday to me, I guess.

* * *

Three Hours Later...

* * *

Well, everyone's left, I'm basically in my deathbed from fighting and sleep deprivation, but at the least, I have a very, very, VERY crudely made base. I don't know when everyone left, but I recall Alessandra digging then leaving with not a single word said. The other three, Katlyn, Andre, and Stefan, had left after a while of fixing up the birds leg and hopped the two remaining birds and carried the injured one in the direction of the blue pillar. I guess I'm alone, aside from Oilslick, Thief, and Patches. That gives me perfect time to sleep.

I look down and whistle at the large bug, setting him to stand guard, and bringing the smaller two animals into the hut. I don't exactly have a good place to sleep besides the floor, so I guess... "Well, guys. Guess it's nap time. Night." I lay down on the floor and close my eyes. I couldn't tell how long it took, but I finally went on to sleep after a good time.

My dreams were... kind of weird, I want to say? They didn't make any sense, but at the same time they had a foreboding tone to them. The first thing I could remember from the dream was that I was still on the Island, only wearing some pretty heavy armor, like it was made from bug skin or something. What's that stuff called, chitin right? Any way, I was standing in the middle of this field actually, with my wooden hut extremely upgraded to near mansion levels. The only problem with it, was that it was soon smashed to literal splinters by... I couldn't tell what it was before the scene changed.

Now, I was in some kind of cave with Alessandra and Oilslick. From looking around, the only notable thing was a large, floating, upside down pyramid thing in the middle of a pedestal. Alessandra starts walking towards it, soon getting ambushed by giant spiders. Jesus Christ, why does it have to be spiders? Out of everything, my subconscious gives me the worst thing created by anything ever. Apparently, Oilslick was also present and started going and attacking the spiders along side Alessandra, who seemed to have an even better machine gun this time. After staying still, I soon join in the fight and-it's gone. It is gone and now I'm in a really, really different place for this sequence of dreams.

I was, I kind of want to say floating? I was floating in a dark and grey room with nothing visable in any direction. Soon, I hear a quiet humming coming from an unknown source and it sounded like the hums were trying to form words. I listened for what seemed like years, only to be stuck with more incomprehensable hums and a minor headache. Can you even get a headache in a dream? Well, I had one and it was only getting worse the longer I stayed in this room. I covered my ears and everything was muffled but still very noticeable. The most noticeable thing, was with everything muffled out, the humming actually started to make some sense. I couldn't hear it all but I knew for certain some of the words were 'test', 'end', 'failed', and 'reset'. I didn't know what order these words were supposed to be in, I didn't know what it meant, and I definitely want to find out. Something inside just told me it would be a bad to hear the rest, and yet, I could feel it was important. Like, hella important.

* * *

Alessandra was, in a word, _socnvolto_. She has broken her own rules, lost two wolves, had one that was critically injured, and lost the kill of the century. She let the goddamn Abomination get away from her. The worst part of all? The one that had the plan that worked and got rid of the Giga, was the fucking NEW GUY! A nobody that doesn't know jack shit about jack goddamn shit on The Island! She takes a deep breath after her internal venting and goes back to what she was doing. Walking all the was back to her base. Under the Red Obelisk. From the base of the volcano. In the dead of goddamn night. This is definitely how she wanted to spend her ten year anniversary being here. Just perfect!

Alessandra sighs and looks back at the Dire Wolves and Behemoth. Everyone was very much beaten up and bleeding. This was a weird feeling for the veteran survivor. It was being below or equal to someone for a short period of time. She was equal to Greggory in strength during the time of their fight, and was below thinking speed during the fight with the Giga. She let this stick to her, thinking it would be a valuable lesson. A lesson in fighting, a lesson on the new guy, and a lesson on using the environment more to her advantage. Speaking of environment, the Redwoods were surprisingly active for this time of night, as though something has woke everyone up. The Thylacoleo, Terror Birds, hell, even the Apis Bees were up and buzzing about. Bees. Why does it have to be Bees out of anything? Alessandra both hated and is allergic to them, so this is the worst possible situation. But what could shake up everything like this? Sure the Giga was loud, but that passed a few hours ago. Wait a second...

The flash. Somehow, that woke up and started the creatures activity. What the hell was that flash anyways? In her ten years, Alessandra has never seen anything like this before. She looked back up at the new dot and noticed something interesting about it... it was slightly pulsating, as though it was on fire. Maybe Alessandra were right in her sarcastic answer earlier and it was a star? It was weird, but looking at the star, Alessandra could have sworn she heard something. She pulled out her gun and looked around, only to met with more of the quiet, almost mute whispers happening. She could barely make anything out, but she for certain could hear 'sapiens', 'useless', 'test', and 'reset'. After a while the whispers subsided, leaving Alessandra with a mild headache and a very pissed off attitude. She doesn't like new or unexplained things. New and unexplained things pissed her off for not knowing what they were. She needed to know things.

* * *

The Mountaineers were carefully flying themselves, the injured bird, and holding onto Katlyn back towards the base on the mountain. They were all very tired, and hadn't said a word since they left. That's usually what they are the most quiet, after a giant battle to where they have no more strength. Stefan was watching closely to where they were flying, being careful to stay in speed with Andre's bird, Icarus. Andre was keeping his attention on holding onto the bird and Katlyn, making sure to properly hold the two underneath them and stay slow. Katlyn had the shortest end of the stick being carried underneath the three birds, and looking around aimlessly and bored. At least, she was until something caught her attention. It was a weird humming, whispering sound.

She tried to pay attention to it but was interrupted by a headache out of nowhere. Katlyn put it behind her mind and focused, picking up a few words among the near silent talking. Sadly, she could only make out a very little amount of it all, only getting 'test', 'next', 'thirty', and 'reset'. She had no idea what any of this meant, but she could feel a faint, importance to it all. Of course, this important feeling was dwarfed by the headache returning. Among with Katlyn, interestingly, both Stefan and Andre had the exact same experience. None of them wanted to talk about it, but they also did at the same time. They all mentally thought, almost in perfect unison, to bring it up first thing in the morning and try to understand it. After sleep, of course.

Through out all of this, though, there was one thing that stayed the exact same with all of these survivors. They were all needing of a very well deserved rest.


	12. Chapter 12: Venandi

I was jerked awake from my weird humming dream by a loud sound directly hitting my hut. I quickly stand up half asleep and grab my stolen gun. Armed, I step out of the door and look to the side, seeing a large Trike rubbing himself against the outside wall. I've seen animals do this before, the big guy was just scratching himself! I let out a sigh and lower my weapon, walking up and patting the dino. He just looks over at me and continues scratching himself, leaving after a few moments. I watch as he walks back over to his herd of three other Trikes. It seems like I set up in a pretty hot spot for these guys.

"Well, I'm awake... now what can I do?" I ask myself trying to think of my current plan. I didn't have some maniac woman trying to kill me, I don't see any sign of the Giga aside from the dead Troodons and smashed trees. I would have assumed something would have eaten those things yet. I start going towards them, but stop seeing something run out of the trees and picking up the bodies. With a quick look, I see something I was surprised to see: two small Dilos, one green and one red, the latter of which was missing an arm. Ol' Red and Greeny. Thought I've seen the last of them when I left the bench.

The pair eats and look around, stopping when they catch sight of me. I realize I shouldn't have been staring at some deadly reptiles, of which I crippled one. Ol' Red just hisses and at me and turns away, while Greeny keeps looking. I don't know how to feel those two just standing there... menacingly. When the duo of Dilos finish eating, they just look at me for a minute before running back into the tree line. Part of me feels they will either be fun to see every now and then, or it'll get annoying and unnecessary quickly.

Actually... Katlyn did say I could try taming things. I make a note to figure out how to tame Dilophosaurus. Actually, I should figure out how to tame in general. I know that Arthropleura tame by throwing rotten meat in their face, and the Pegomastax steals Mejoberries from my inventory. Although, the Dodo tamed by being knocked out and force fed food. And if my process of elimination is accurate, a dino that eats meat can be tamed by the knocking out and force feeding of meat! Am I genius? Yes you are, other Gregg, yes you are. But, that probably shouldn't be on my mind at the moment. Right now, it should be either hunting or finding a suitable source of food for myself and companions. Thief should be easy, as I just whistle and he gathers food for himself. And I guess I could take that and give some to Patches! But there is still the issue with Oilslick... I don't want to kill anything, but I know I have to feed him. Also, meat would fill me more than the colossal amount of berries on The Island.

I decide that hunting is the best thing to do at the moment. But I only have a limited amount of ammunition for it. I guess there's still my bow and spears, but that will take literally forever. Well, somethings in life are worth fighting for, and this is literally a time I have to fight for life, and I do want that. I go inside and pick up Thief, putting him on my shoulder again. It might be dangerous, but this guy has stuck with me the most dammit! I then out the gun back in my inventory and pull out my bow, arming it with an arrow. I walk out and whistle over at Oilslick, making him uncurl and wake up, being met with a series of clicks.

"You ready for a little hunting, Oilslick?" I say down to the bug, being responded with a hiss and two clicks. I think I've gotten this guys communicating thing down. One hiss and two clicks is a yes, one hiss and one click is a no. "Good insect. Let's get out there."

Armed with a bow, arrows, and a giant acid-spitting insect, I start towards the Redwoods again ready to hunt. As soon as I enter, I hear a loud roar come from the side and I turn, seeing a large Carnotaurus already charging at me. Of to a good start, that's what I like to see. What I like seeing more is a large ball of Arthropleura acid being shot directly into the beasts face. It makes contact and burns instantly, blinding the monster into running into tree and shaking down a... the hell is that, a bee hive? Oh, shit, yes it was. There were several large bees flying out of the hive and swarming the Carno, stinging and attacking it. Something I noticed from the bees, was that their stingers weren't coming out, and they stayed alive after attacking.

Unsure of what to do, I hide in a bush and wait for the large insects to finish. Once they finish, they start to fly buzz around their fallen hive, looking to try and pick it up. These things are obviously very intelligent, or at least the Queen is and knows how to give orders. I watch as the group carefully carries the nest up and places it back where it was prior. The bugs spit up some kind of... I literally have no words to explain it, maybe a type of sappy-beeswax? Whatever it was, the bees put the hive back into place near perfectly and restore to its original condition in minutes. I wonder if those things would be useful as builder tames? Wait, can I even tame bugs on this Island? Oh yeah, I already did. God, I'm stupid. But, that is not the point at the moment. What is, is that I now have food with absolutely no consequences falling upon me or my companions!

When the majority of the bees return into the hive, and the rest fly off somewhere for flowers or something, I rush over to the Carno and pull out my ax. Once I hit the beast with with a good first blow, Oilslick start attacking it again. I think the guy might be a little bit hungry, because he was going into it. After about four or five attacks, the Carno does the weird disappearing thing the other did. Oilslick looks over at me and clicks happily, crawling himself over to me. I think for a second and kneel down to open the bugs inventory. When I do, the screen shows that all the meat he ate off the Carno was in their stacks, only about one and a half. Looks like these things can be pretty good cargo animals with meat. There was also a decent amount of hide, which I take out for an idea I have.

With the hide, I go over to the bush again and start pulling out the fibrous material out of them. Once I have a good amount of all of it, along with a lot of berries, I take out my hide and start working with them. After some mild trial and error, I now have a hide shirt and pants. A little more defensive clothing never hurts, and it's pretty warm too! Not sure what to do with the other clothes, I do the first thing I think of and just toss them. No need if I've got something better than them, right? Right.

Forgetting the cloth clothes, I turn and look around. I know this isn't going to keep me and Oilslick fed for a long time, not to mention if I get anything else. Which I most certainly am. Seeing Ol' Red and Greeny again, plus the usefulness of the bees, it made that my goal. I shall have an army!... You know, I shouldn't really think that too loud, who know might hear me. A quick scan of the area shows that the Carno was pretty much all there was that was of large size compared to me at least. The only things left were a small group of... some kind of birds and an armadillo looking thing. Wait a second, I know what that thing's called... Doedicurus! And what I do know about them is that their shells are considered the strongest armor of any prehistoric reptile, even beating Ankylosaurus. Not going against that thing.

I turn my attention back to the birds and start stalking my way over to observe them better. They were all maybe a little shorter than me and had really sharp beaks. Their bodies were fat and stout, kind of like a Dodo on steroids that quite a week in, with very small wings and extremely dangerous looking claws. While I watch, I notice something moving above them and look up. I could barely make it out, but it was another Tree-Cat thing, stalking on a tree directly above the avians. Ok, if I can go two for two that would be awesome. It actually looks like that's what's happening as the feline jumps down and tackles a bird, biting down on it's neck to spray blood everywhere. Lot of action today, and it's only nine o'clock!

The large cat tears into the bird until I couldn't see any more movement and turned to the other three birds. Unfortunately, the birds were pretty fast and were on the cat like nothing. Two of them ran and bit at him, while the last jumped decently high in the air and came down, digging it's claws into the Tree-Cat. The stalker was fast to fight back and swatted the bird on top off and onto another, giving it a moment to swipe his claws into the last one. Even more unfortunately, the birds landed right next to me and were quick to notice my presence, and even quicker to charge at me.

Well, start to charge before stopping suddenly and look at me. It's fair to say I was confused, until I heard something really weird, yet familiar. It was some kind of cackling, like those hyenas from Lion King. Against my better judgement, I turn around and see a small group of four very large hyena looking animals that, of course, were cackling. Now, I know a thing or two about hyenas, but I don't think they'll up and face five opponents at once. They mostly only go after a wounded or easily beat prey... like the Tree-Cat. The birds for some reason had already turned and fled, letting the hyenas rush past me and attack the feline straightforward. I don't know how, but the hyenas put down the cat pretty easily. Most likely because he was already beaten a bit. I watched and look as the hyenas kept attacking and eating the cat, not really paying any attention to me. Ok, so apparently I'm not good enough for hyenas. That's great for the old self esteem.

After they finished off the corpse and it disappeared, they were now looking back at me. Maybe I was wrong and they just wanted to eat? Yeah, I was. I learned that as they all went for me and Oilslick at once. Oilslick was the first to attack back and spat acid directly at the smallest, almost taking it out in aa it hit. Unfortunately, one of the others jumped on the bug as soon as he did this, starting to bite at his strong exoskeleton. The other two, the biggest of the herd, went straight for me. Luckily, with one good weapon switch, the smaller of the two instantly had a spear in it's front haunch. This attack brought down the hyena to a knee, leaving what I could only assume was the alpha jumping onto me and knocking onto me. I wrestled with the hyena until I got to a point where I could throw it off, which I did, directly into a tree. While getting back up, I noticed what tree I threw him into. It as the bee tree, and seeing what it did to a Carno... I got to be careful with that one.

The alpha picked himself back up and growled at me before jumping with his teeth bared right at me. I pulled out another spear but it was caught in between the jaws of the dog, being a very flimsy barrier to me and the deadly fangs. I fight it and look over, seeing the hyena on Oilslick covered in burning acid and running off. I guess his blood has a high pH balance. Either way, Oilslick now started charging the dog on top of me and, I guess, tackled it off. The alpha was pinned and my bug was clicking it's pincers at his face before spitting acid directly onto the animal. I picked myself up and went over to the two, seeing the hyena very, very dead.

"Well," I say to the clicking insect, "I suppose that was a pretty good hunting expedition. I'm ready for a little less excitement already."

I look down and pull out my ax, harvesting the hide and meat from the dead hyenas. Actually, think I'm forgetting something... Oh, that's right! The hyena that's still pinned with my spear. I walk over and kneel next to the animal, looking over it's overall damage at the moment. I suppose I should do something about him. I can't just let the poor guy... nope, girl. I can't just leave the poor girl to suffer. I work a little and pull out the spear from the leg, getting a loud whimper from her. Once it's out, the hyena doesn't really do anything aside whimper and crouch to the ground. Man, I couldn't do anything to this little dog thing. I decide it's best to just leave and let whatever happens happen.

"Well, you tried to kill me," I say to the hyena, "but I can't bring myself to hurt something so depressing."

I stand up and pat the thing on the head before I leave. Now, this part confused me the most. Once I patted it, I smiled, leaned on it's back legs, and let out a cackle. That's not the weird part, that's just a thing that happens when you pet something. The weird part, was that right above the hyena, was the taming bar. It had all the normal information the bars had, the level of the creature: 17, the creatures actual name: Hyaenodon, and the gender, which was as I guessed a female. The bar was only at a sliver, yet now I was interested. I wanted a Hyaenodon. There was also a small timer on it, set for thirty seconds. I guess that's how long it takes to do this thing. It looks like this is going to take a while. Finally, taming that isn't instantaneous! That was honestly getting a little boring. Oh, the timer's out. I pet the dog again and she does the same thing, moving the bar a little farther. Well, I'm in this now and I am not going to stop. She'll need a name though... what's a good name for a Hyaenodon?


	13. Chapter 13: Basis

So, I'm starting to think this is going to be tedious if all taming takes this long. The Hyaenodons bar is only a little over halfway and it's been a good thirty minutes since I've started. My hand's starting to hurt, and the roughness of her fur isn't helping any. Like, hell this fur is rough. But, I made a commitment and I will stay with it! ...Shit, this is boring. I look around and think of something I could do to keep myself entertained. Sadly, being on an Island that possibly isn't even on earth and in the middle of the Redwoods of said Island doesn't exactly give me much to work with. I regret not getting transported here without my 3DS. And I just freaking dated myself bad... Who the hell am I talking to?

I look over and pet the Hyaenodon again, making the meter about... a third? I wanna say third of the way done. A third of the way is more than enough of the way to come up with a name. Let's see, name, name, name... This one's smaller than the other ones and I can only guess she was the runt of the group. That's it! The runt of the litter's in old viking culture were called Hiccups, so I'm gonna call this one Hiccup! Ah, I am a genius aren't I? Yes you are other Gregg, yes you are. Huh... I think one of those is more than enough. Oh, petting time. I pet the Hyaenodon and watch the thing go up again. Such fun this is, I do say. But I am getting a little restless with this, and I could tell Thief and Oilslick were feeling the same.

"So... I guess you two want something to do, right?" I ask the duo, getting affirmative noises from both of them. "Well, I guess... Ah, I know! Thief?"

" _Ch-chrrp?_ "

"Go get me some berries if you don't mind please." I pick up and set down the bird and whistle. With that, Thief starts wandering around to different bushes and collects some berries. That's one down, now for the big guy.

"Oilslick. What do you want to do?" I ask the bug, knowing he can't respond. I just want to be funny, ok? Funny enough, Oilslick clicks out again before looking up at the beehive on the opposite tree. Was he seriously thinking about... I think for a second and whistle, letting the invertebrate do what he wanted. Almost instantly, Oilslick crawls over to the tree and climbs up, stopping right underneath the hive. He spits up at it and burns a really big hole in the bottom, of course drawing out a number of giant bees. I guess these insects weren't as strong as I thought, because Oilslick just attacked about two or three times and they fell like nothing. One, two, three, and four bees are now dead in front of me. Still, Oilslick was constantly spitting and attacking the hive for some reason. I probably have enough meat by now, what could he want? That's when I saw it.

Once the hive was completely demolished, a larger bee came from the remains and slowly descended onto the ground. The queen. Oilslick then climbed down and started attacking it, too. Like it's predecessors, the queen fell pretty quickly but still gave a decent fight. After a few minutes Oilslick gave a last acidic spit and the queen was dead at my feet. Oilslick looked up and gave a little happy clicking noise, obviously wanting some appreciation for his kill. Like a puppy that just brought you a dead bird or something. I smile over at the bugs and whistle, making him lean up and I want to say clap with the first twenty of his leg things. Cute. Wait a second, puppy... Oh, time to pet the Hyaenodon again! Tediousness, how I hate you. I look up and the little bar thing is actually pretty close than I thought. Maybe one or two more and we're good? I can't guesstimate properly.

I sit around with the bug and hyena animal and wait. Eventually, Thief comes back with a total load of berries like I asked. What a good bird! I open his inventory and look at everything he got. About half a stack of Azul, twenty or so Amar, maybe forty Stim, a good twenty Narco, and twenty of the Mejo. Good collection! Also, he had what looked like seeds with them. A few seeds for each of the berry types, along some for weirdly named plants. Rockarrot seeds, Savoroot seeds, Citronal seeds, and something called a... Plant X seed. What the hell is with this Island?

I decide to stop thinking about it and go back to the Hyaenodon and pet her again. The bar is literally full aside maybe one pixel from the end. Keeping count, it seemed like thirty-two is the magic number of pets needed. Yay for my OCD making me count this bullshit. The timer runs out again and I give the girl one more pet, to be met with a happy barking sound come from the Hyaenodon. Along with the barking, I'm met with the normal interface of tamed animals appear over her.

Hyaenodon - Lv 24: Owner - Greggory: Following - Greggory

Nope, that needs to be changed. "Hey, girl," I say down to the large canine, "How do you like the name... Hiccup?" This is met with a happy cackling noise and the name over her head changing. You know, at this point I think these things are programed to like any name I give them. "Well, welcome to the family I guess!" I pat Hiccup on the head again only for her to get some strange yellow glow come off of her. Confused, I open her inventory and see a little symbol in the upper corner. It says that she now has a twenty-five percent attack damage boost and attack damage resistance. Ok, now there are freaking percentages in this thing? God, it's like this is some weird game or simulation. I wonder if any of the others have had this thought? Questions for later, right now I don't know what the hell to do. I got a lot of meat, so I don't have to worry about that for a minute. I've tamed a new creature, so I guess that's good enough for me to take a break for the time being on that.

Now what to do, what to do? "Hiccup, what do you think we should do?" I ask down to my hyena, getting a loud cackle and bark as my answer. "Alright, home it is!" I only guess that's what she meant and I stand up with Thief back on my shoulders. Making sure everyone was with me, I start out of the Redwoods back to the volcano. I don't know what drew me, but for some reason I had the urge to look up. When I did, I didn't actually see anything of any worth aside a stray cloud that looked like tree and the sun. Wait a second, there was one more thing. A little dot just off to the side of the sky. A very familiar dot, as though I saw it... the night before. Holy shit, that thing was still in the sky. That's not how stars work, I think. Is it? "Hey, Thief," I turn to the bird on my side, "how long into the day do stars stay in the sky?"

Thief just shrugs and looks up with me, making an angry chirping at it. I guess Hiccup and Oilslick also looked up, because they also made their respected pissed off noises. Honestly, looking at that made me a little irate as well. It was just a... very angry dot. Holy shit, I'm calling a dot in the sky angry. I've lost it, I have officially lost it. Although, now that I pay attention to it, the dot's a little bigger than last night. Or is it? It's hard to tell from how far it is and it being so close to the sun. Which is blinding me, god! I look back down and rub my eyes, getting those little yellow dots in my vision you usually get from looking at a bright light for too long.

Apparently, while I was busy looking at the sky dot we had made our way back to the field and in front of my hut. I pull myself out of my trance and look over at my companions. I kneeled down in front of Oilslick and go into his inventory to pull out some meat, when I noticed something. There was some black material that wasn't in there last time I checked. I hover over it and see it's called Chitin. That's the stuff that makes a bugs exoskeleton, right? Wait a second, bugs! He got this from the bees. Hey, now that I think about it chitin is like a super strong material, right? Maybe I could make some kind of pseudo-armor from this stuff! I'd need a lot more, though... Adding it to my list to go bug hunting often. A list is always important! Just talk to Craig, or Schind-actually, forget that last part.

I take out the hide, chitin, and some meat and exit the bugs inventory. I then look over to Hiccup and think about her food. The fact of she has none because I literally just tamed her. I go over and put some meat in and notice something I haven't before. The timer under the food that tells its spoil time actually got longer inside the inventory of the animals. I can do something with this, but the idea I have will probably only work with the Hyaenodons. In scout's, I learned how to make a very rudimentary preserving thing for food, and I think I could make a mobile version that could work like a backpack, but for animals. Actually, now that I think about it, I should make one for here, too. I'm gonna need some hide, little bit of fiber, maybe some metal if I want to make like I do, and some kind of weak power source or flammable dust... sparkpowder I think my Scout Master called it. Which I can make with my stone and flint in a mortar and pestle! A thing that I actually can make with the stone and hide I have now! Holy shit, everything's actually working out for me for once on this God forsaken Island! Actually, for the first time ever really. My luck does not exist at all.

* * *

Alessandra was less than ecstatic with her current mission. As her rule with all survivors that make it past her limit, she needed to give Greggory a very special gift. She has just made herself a new pistol and had mounted her wolf Lupo. She started to go towards the volcano with intent to not kill for once, despite how much she hated this new guy. And it wasn't normal hate, no it was a different hate. A hate caused by several things she's never felt for anyone before. Pride in someone else, equality for a lesser survivor, thinking for a second that he was actually smarter than herself. Alessandra has faced literally none of these in her life. Sadly, Alessandra was a woman of principles, and one she made for herself was gifting all other survivors with a radio. Why? Although she hated everyone, she also enjoyed helping, even if just for the praise she receives afterwards.

Thankfully Lupo had a large amount put into his movement speed, so arriving at the _idiotas_ poor excuse for a base didn't take more than fifteen, maybe twenty minutes. Hopefully she made it there at a time when he was ou-and he's right there. Goddammit. "Well, Alessandra," the survivor said to herself, "I guess we have to do this face to face without murdering him." She starts walking on top of Lupo over to the hut, catching Greggory's attention along with the Arthropleura, Pegomastax, and Hyaenodon. Wait, when the hell did he get a Hyaenodon?

* * *

I pull out of Hiccup's inventory and look up, catching my eye on a certain maniac riding a very familiar white wolf. It was Alessandra! Oh, God, she's not here to try and kill me again, is she? I take out a spear and just prepare myself, not wanting to do anything rash yet keeping my guard up. Once Alessandra gets to me, she hops off and looks me over.

"At ease, Greggory," she says, somehow mentally making my lower my weapon, "I'm only here for a delivery." She goes into her Implant and brings out a small device. I look a little like a walkie-talkie, but more primitive. "Here, radio in case you require my assistance."

I look over the radio and up to Alessandra, then back down to the radio before taking it. "Ok... why?" I ask, extremely skeptical.

"Assistance from me, like I said, you _incredibilmente colossale morone!_ "

"Hey now, no need to be rude," I respond, able to understand the context of what she said, "I mean, why help me? Less than twelve hours ago you were trying to kill me!"

"Yes, that is true, but that's also why I am gifting this to you." Alessandra explained. "It is a rule I made a long time ago. Once someone escapes my grasp and lives past the three day mark, which you got lucky with by the way, I give them, a radio so I may be of called."

"...But why? Not to be rude, but you don't exactly seem like the kind to, you know, help people?"

"Exactly. I'm not, but a thing I do like is the praise I get for helping people."

"Oh. Holy shit, you're a total narcissist aren't you?"

"Yes I am, yes I am indeed. Aren't that stupid as I thought, are you?"

"Well, let's see here. I am the only one to tame one of these bad boys." I mock at her, nodding down at Oilslick. "From what I understand, not even you have correct?"

With this, Alessandra only raises a new pistol right at my face and looked decently irate. Part of me felt I hit a nerve, but that was put down by me sudden urging to pull out my own pistol. We were kind of at a stalemate, but I didn't feel any fear from it. "Don't forget," Alessandra finally said, "I am the alpha of the Island. Do not try to test me."

I look at the woman and crack a small smile, lowering my gun. "I hate tests anyway. Don't worry, Alessandra," I raise up the radio, "I won't be a bother."

Alessandra grins and puts her gun away, turning back to her wolf. "Alright, Greggory. I'll see you around, along with your little comrades."

"They have names, you know."

"And I don't give a shit!' She laughs and hops onto Lupo. " _Addio_ , _idiota_." With that, she turns and leaves. Rude. Very rude person. Yet has a lot of potential to not be an uppity, full of herself bitch.

I take the radio and put into my inventory. Got to make sure I keep this thing handy. Who knows when I'll need some extra help with the hell on this Island. I put it in my Implant and go back inside my small hut. God, this place could use some renovations... Alright, I'm gonna a little bit of wood, some metal, and of course fiber! I look around and plan it out before going back outside. First off, wood! Easy enough, and there's plenty of it, same with fiber. Now, metal... I only need a couple little bits of it. After a quick look around, I remember the group of boulders and I go over. If what I think I know about rocks is right, I can get a bit from this! Thank my large lack of geology for my optimism in this situation.

I go over and take out my pick. I look around and catch eye of something shining in one of the rocks. Looks like this is the place to be! I start breaking away the boulder and the remaining bits come into Implant. Still don't know how that works. Sadly, from what I'm getting, I notice a distinct lack of metal. Only rocks and flint. But then, with one more strike, the boulder breaks and I see a shiny rock go into my inventory. I open and see, just like I was planning, two bits of metal! Part one complete, now for the rest. I go over and chop down a tree, causing it to do its weird disappearing thing like the bodies. I do the same with some bushes and now have everything. Back to the house!

Inside, I set the bunch of materials down in the center of the room. I may be in a survival situation, but I'll be damned if I can have a table and chair! After about and hour or so, and several failed attempts, I finally make a kind of good table. Nice, maybe set a table on it it'll be pretty nice... Chairs! That's what it needs! I do the same as the table and build a pair of chairs, in significantly less time than before, clocking in about half an hour for both. Now, this looks like a base I can live in!

Now what do I do? Hell, I think I've exaggerated everything I could do for the time being... Well, time to do what I was doing before I got sent here. I pull out a chair and sit down, thinking of bad story ideas that'll never be any good. A great way to live my life!


	14. Chapter 14: Mons Igneus

You know, sitting here and thinking, I have finally figured out what I'm going to miss the most out of everything from my old world. The Sharknado movies. I am never going to see how five works out, and I swear I wanted to see it unironically. With how the last one ended, it looked like it was going to be awesome. All around the world and throwing monuments across multiple countries. I wonder if there are sharks on The Island. Or... at least in the ocean around. What are those prehistoric sharks called again? Helicoprion! That's what it's called, the thing with the buzzsaw teeth. Does weather happen here, and if it does can there be a Helicoprionado? Why aren't I writing this stuff down? This could make an awesome prehistoric parody movie. Oh, right. No paper or pen. You never have that stuff when you need it.

Well, now I'm bored. I'm on an Island filled with prehistoric and possible mythical creatures, and I'm bored... Welp, might as well run head first into danger! Maybe I'll find a Dire Bear or something. As if those actually exist. We all know South Park made those only for the Canada part of that one game! Man, it is not funny how accurate they get my home country. Anyways, I stand up and whistle over to Thief, catching his attention. He comes running over and jumps on the table and onto my shoulders. He's actually starting to feel comfortable up there. I go over and open the door, taking a long look around my field. Still have Hiccup here and Oilslick curled up and big old circle. I don't really plan on doing that much, maybe just look around and try to explore my home area.

Now, let's see here... boulders. Trees. A few wondering Trikes and Stegos. Couple birds in the air. Alright, I know the immediate area and dangers. Where shall I explore now? Well, there is the colossal mountain that might have been a volcano right here so... Mountain climbing it is! I whistle for Hiccup and she stands up, letting out the normal cackling sound. Why do Hyenas cackle? I don't get that. I walk with Hiccup towards the base and start slowly wanding around the circumfrence, until I come across a narrow walkway up. Man, everything on this Island is so freaking convenient for me so far! This can only go downhill, but I will go with it. For now, I am going uphill. Ha! Puns! The best form of comedy, and if anyone says otherwise, they are an idiot!

Oh, great. I forgot about this part. Walking. I start going up and make sure Hiccup is still with me, keeping an eye out for any unwanted visitors on this trail. We keep walking until we come across a couple of weird, white things sticking out of the ground every now and then along with some giant pure black stones. I pass these, not knowing if I did anything would cause something to happen. Eventually, maybe twenty or so minutes later, we the ground starts to even out, marking our closing to the top. If I can say one thing, we may be really high up, but it is hot as balls up here. I can't even come up with a good metaphor from how hot it is! I look down over the side and see I am a lot higher up than I thought I was, and was now facing the snow-covered area of The Island. Big Blue Obelisk just floating there somehow in a mountain.

I turn back to the trail and come out into a large crater in mountain. It was an active lava area! It was flowing out of the walls of the mountain sides and went down into a large pool. This pool also had a tiny river coming out of it and going towards... a door? At least, something that looks like a colossal steel door that was glowing a little bit. In front of that door was a metal floor with some kind of triangular pillar in the front. Well, I did see that I wanted to explore this area. I slowly make my way down the sides, staying as far from the lava as I can until I reach the bottom. Almost burning alive in my armor, I go to the pillar and look it over. I notice that it starts glowing red like my Implant, so I raise it, because what else am I supposed to do?

Once I do, the normal hologram thing shows up again, having an inventory for the... Tek Cavern Door? What the heck is a 'Tek Cavern' and why does it have a special inventory for a door? Must work like some kind of key... There are three different, I guess, folders with the words 'Gamma', 'Beta', and 'Alpha' under each. I open the Gamma one and am brought to another list. There are three greyed out items in it: A Gamma Broodmother Trophy, Gamma Megapithacus Trophy, and a Gamma Dragon Trophy. Apparently, there are mythological creatures here. Considering I have none of these things, I close the inventory and turn back. It is hot and I am ready to leave. This was some fun mountainous exploration, and I really don't know if this will ever be useful to me again. I wanted to waste my time anyways.

I go back to the trail and look over, seeing the mountain in the snow in the distance. When I do, I notice something I hadn't before. There was a building under the Obelisk! I remember that the other group, the Mountaineers, flew in that direction. Must be their base of operations. I have no idea who would want to live somewhere so cold, but I guess if it works. Probably safest place to be, considering this is an Island filled with dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are reptiles and therefore are coldblooded. Coldblooded things can't survive well in the frigid cold. The most likely things up there are the Wolves and birds, maybe Mammoths. Very little dangers in the cold aside the... cold.

Now for the near half-hour walk back down. Just as best pony says all the time, but in a more sarcastic tone: Yay! Oh, God, I just made me hate myself an unnecessary amount with that... Oh, actually, are there horses here? Some type of ancient horse, that would be cool. Let's see, walking. Always fun! We start our way down and I look at the big white spikes again. I think for a second and pull out my pick, figuring, there's no point in letting it go to waste. I drive my pick into it and am given a few bits of stone, some kind of white material, and a mushroom thing. I open my inventory and examine the white thing, called Crystal. I suppose there's something cool I can do with that. Now, the mushroom, or, as the description calls it, a Rare Mushroom. Apparently, these things are not a good eatery items, because the description says it causes mild headaches just by smelling it. At least it's something. A heavy something, but something. Seriously, I can barely walk with all of this, and I only have a few pieces of Crystal. I decide to toss my stone, giving me a good bit of inventory space left as well as weight. Still don't see how that works.

Speaking of weight, I go over and see I have leveled again! I look it over and think. With a little bit of thinking, weight wouldn't be a problem. I can see where speed would be useful, but so far I haven't came across anything faster than myself. Well, aside Mister Stompy. Ah, screw it! I shall use the best strategy ever conceived by humans ever! Closing my eyes and choosing one by random! I do that and click, then open my eyes. Stamina. Always a good thing to have, I suppose. It's not if you're faster than the enemy, but if you can out last them! I close my Implant and look down at Hiccup. Random guess assumes she leveled up as well. I open and... no, I was wrong. It's close, but not quite there yet.

I exit everything again and start going down once more. This is probably going to be annoying, only on the fact that it's downhill and that means I have to move my ankle in that weird angle that makes you almost fall every step. I hate that feeling when going downhill. And I have to do this for twenty freaking minutes!

* * *

Andre was flying over the smaller island off the eastern side of The Island. He and the others of the Mountaineers were hovering around and waiting for the perfect time to land. Although the birds are strong, and the only threats here are a few Raptors or Carnos, there is the biggest danger of a T-Rex to appear out of nowhere. They needed the perfect timing for this. Andre looks behind him at Stefan.

"Stefan," he saids to the Russian, "does everything look alright in ze landing area?"

Stefan looks arounds and nods. "Yes, everything is fine. Now or never."

"Alright then," the leader says, starting to fly down to the land, "everyone, land quickly."

The three birds quickly take perch on a number of rocks, all high enough to where they can not be attacked by the smaller of the carnivores of this island. The tribe all jump off and start rushing to the entrance of the cave, guns in hand. After several weeks of planning and researching, they were all ready to take the their biggest challenge. The challenge of the Cave of The Devourer.


	15. Chapter 15: Devorandum

The Mountaineers have delved into many a cave on this unholy Island, and each was more dangerous than the last. With the knowledge they've gained from the discovered jornals of prior surviviors, they have prepared themselve more than they needed for this trek. With multiple guns, abundant ammunition, and good old Bug Repelant, the trio had begun their descent into the Devourers cavern. For now, let us focus our attention on... ah, yes, Andre. Who better to follow than the leader?

Equiped with my special Mastercraft Shotgun, I lead my group into the bowels of the most dangerous part of the most dangerous island in history. I wasn't scared though, this was a very well calculated plan and we are all very compitent people. Especially Stefan, the Russian bastard saved my life more times than I can count. The man is like a human Dreadon with a blond beard. I have much respect for this man. Katlyn on the other hand... she's a very special case. Strong and smart, she has the attention span of a walnut and self-control of an Swede looting in Brekken. Yet, she is quite possibly the most useful asset, as her uncontrolable actions serve as the worlds greatest distraction. That is going to be a very good skill to have down here.

"Hey, Andre," Katlyn says from the back, "like, I know this is a very far from our base and all, but why do we not have a single dino with us?"

"Because," I answer back, walking down the cavern, "if zat jornal had validity to it, zis cave is only one colosal pit with narrow walkways. Put two and two togezer. Also, I know of somezing down here zat can be tamed here, and I'd like if it got out reasonably unharmed."

"Oh, I like that plan! What we got here, some special bat? Another giant bug thing?"

"This creature, which you will see if you watch the walls or ceiling, is a large reptile that can climb along the walls. It is very good for travel."

"Sounds neat."

"Indeed, now please. Be quiet as we are in a cave and you know how dangerous this place is."

The British lady stops talking and we all continue down into cave. As of now, everything seems relatively calm, minus the various squeaks echoing from down below and the giant glowing mushrooms on the sides. So far, pretty normal for a cave. Less lava than I thought there'd be. We keep going down until we find a platform like area on the edge of a very deep cliff. The place seemed rather safe for the time being until I hear the familiar clacking steps of a large clawed insect. The Pulmonoscorpius. I pump my gun and slow down, making sure the others followed suit.

"Andre," I hear Stefan ask quietly from the back, "what is it?"

"Scorpions... three, I think," I answer him, staying quiet to hear a number of footsteps get closer. "Everyone, did you apply the Repelant?"

"Yes, Sir." Both of the Mountaineers answer, reassuring me a little bit. That gives us a little leway past the arachnids. I nod and start moving back at our original pace. I keep my ears out to catch the scorions moving closer, until I finally see them crawling up the side cliff face.

I raise my hand and stop my group, all taking aim at the insects. The Pulmonoscorpius haven't taken notice of us yet, but the big one in the center was slowly getting closer to us. I lower the barrel of my gun to it's face and wait. We stare at it for a good minute before it starts clicking it's mandibles, getting the attention of the other two. With this, I pull the trigger and blow the creatures face off, knocking it dead then and there. Meanwhile, Katlyn takes the initiative and charges, shooting a good ten or so pistol rounds into the next scorpion, before switching to her pike and stabbing it dead in the spine. She's crazy, but you can't argue with the results. Then, I hear repeated machine gun fire as Stefan nearly tears the remaining bug to shreds.

We take a few minutes to tear apart and harvest the insects and start our decent again. I make sure to keep a steady eye upwards in case of Onycs. They are great assets, but are even more dangerous adversaries... Ah, who am I kidding? Those things are freaking harmless! Especially when the three of us are after it with the bast weapons we have. Sometimes I like just putting unnecessary drama into my inner narratives. Actually, speaking of Onycs, I think I see a few of them now... Yes, two just up ahead. I switch over to my rifle until I feel a hand on my shoulder. I look over and see Katlyn trying to get my attention.

"Andre," she says, nodding towards the bats, "I know we are looking for something, but I have the mutton. And I don't have a bat. Do you think I could just..." She slips slight smile, trying to seem needy. I sigh and lower my gun, giving her a nod of agreement. She smiles and starts going in the direction of the fliers. She gets as close as she could and does the taming action, showing the bar underneath grown pretty far. Must be a low level. She quickly jumps back and waits for the animals timer to go back down. After, hell I don't even care, Katlyn jumps and comes back quickly with the bat following soon after. Well, at least she's happy now. "Thank you, Andre," she says, pulling out her gun again, "shall we continue?"

I start again and shoot the bat that was remaining, killing it and letting it fall to the bottom of the cave. Man, for a cave on Dead Island this place is far too easy... that's never a good thing. We descend for a good ten or fifteen minutes with nothing but the occasional bat, spider, scorpion, or Arthropleura bothering us. Arthropleura... that new guy, Gregg I think his name was, somehow tamed one of these things. How did he say he did it? throwing rotten meat at it? Sounds a little bit convoluted, but I suppose I could try that at some point. Ah, hell, why not now? I know for certain the food I brought hasn't lasted, and there's all the raw that must have spoiled at this point. I keep an eye out and stop at the first sight of a centipede.

"Guys," I speak behind me, "hold on for a second. I want to try somezing." I look over and see the two have stopped. I nod and start walking prone to the giant insect, equipping myself with the meat. Not that much, so I hope this thing is lower than it probably is. I get up near behind it and toss a piece in front of it, drawing its attention and getting it to eat. The bar comes up and I is a decently low level. Low enough to where about maybe ten could do the trick. Over the span of about five or six minutes, the Arthropleura tames up at level ten. God, that is a useless level, but this is an exception. A good trek so far I would say. A good trek in a very stunning cave. For a land that wants to murder us, this Island has sights I would envy to see.

I start back up, making sure everyone else was following, starting to descend to, what I could only assume was, the bottom of the cave. It was near straight shot. Flat ground and stalactites surrounded a large demolished wall, the entire area pulsating with the energy emitting from the Artifact. Of course, like most of these caverns, the area was swarmed with everything we saw on the way down. Spiders, scorpions, centipedes, bats, just everything. Plus, one new creature I have yet to see. A creature that was climbing alongside the walls and underside of several ledges. The Megalania. There were three of them, two on the wall, one on the ledges, and all of them were quietly watching us. I turn back to my group for a plan.

"Alright," I say, "we have several hostiles. Any plans?"

Katlyn raises her hand first, "Oh, I have one!"

"Plans zat don't involve causing a cave in?"

"Yes! No... There will be a small cave in, but it'll be controlled and helpful."

I sigh and, against my better judgement, say, "Go on Katlyn."

"Nice! Alright, those two buggers on the wall over there, yeah? Are right under the big one on that ledge," she points up to the overhang with the Megalania under it, "blow that puppy up, the whole thing smashes all three of them, plus any unlucky pests that find their way underneath!"

Me and Stefan look at each other for a second before Stefan shrugs. "Hey, better zan vhat I had in mind."

I nod and turn back to Katlyn. "Alright, we have a plan. Now, we need ze execution."

Katlyn just smirks and pulls up her Implant, taking out a number of... oh, dear God those are grenades. She has, at the least, fifteen grenades. How in the hell did she get all of those?

"Katlyn," I ask, "how in the hell did you get all of those?"

"I have a secret reserve. Don't judge me."

I sigh and take a few of them, turning back towards the ledge. "Just tell me where to throw."

"Alright," she said, pulling the pin and bending her arm back, "Throw!" She tosses the grenade up to the ledge, followed by me and Stefan doing the same. After a few seconds, the overhang explodes and drops dead onto the other two Megalania, smashing all three on the ground along with at least ten other creatures. Unfortunately, this caught the attention of literally everything in the area, and even some things behind and above us. Part of me knew this was going to happen, but deep inside I wanted to blow something up.

"Well, everyone," I say, bringing out my shotgun again, "looks like we have ourselves a show."

They don't respond but I hear the sound of guns being loaded and cocked. Seems like we might use a bit more ammunition than planned. We huddle and turn our backs to each other, getting lined up for every angle. The first thing that comes at me is a pair of Araneos, both getting shotgun blasts to the face. Sadly, this only knocks them back less than a foot before they charge again. I give them another shot and kill one of them, starting to beat the remaining one with the butt of the weapon. I look over and see Stedan having the same situation with an Arthropleura and Katlyn shooting a group of Onycs. I kill the spider and aim back up, just in time to meet eye-to-eye with a very bright colored scorpion. Which, of course, I blew the head off of instantly. Mean while, the new Arthropleura and Onyc were tearing any stragglers that got to close to literal pieces and burning them with acid.

Are we overpowered? A little bit. Do I care? Not at all! If I did, we would be getting killed right now. But, no, I was effortlessly killing this scorpion, and then even more scorpions. After nearly half an hour of brutal murder of this caves creatures, Katlyn shoots the final Onyc out of the sky, neutralizing the cave for us to raid.

"Well..." I say, starting towards the pulsating Artifact, "that was equal parts amazing and terrifying. Great work, tribe!"

"Terrifying?" Katlyn asks, wiping off some blood from her armor, "That was bloody amazing! These buggers ain't shit compared to us! We can take on anything on this blooming Island!"

Stefan then steps in, "Yes, everyzing except zat Abomination."

"Please, now that we know we can use the Troodons I bet we can tear that fucker down like nothing!"

I look back at the two. "Well, we also had zose ozer two with us. If anyone can kill zat zing, despite how strong we are, it will be Alessandra."

This gets an identical pair of 'Yeahs' from the two, shutting them up for the moment. I go up to the destroyed stone wall and enter the doorway. There, floating in the middle of a stone and metal floor, was a large, silver, metal pyramid; the house of the Artifact. The closer I get to it, the more my Specimen Implant starts to glow, until I get right up to it and open the inventory. There in the screen, was a glowing red Artifact. The Artifact of the Devourer. The last Artifact we needed. If what I read is accurate, this can get us off this fucking Island for good. All we need now is for Alessandra to meet and combine our collected Artifacts, and we are finally, FINALLY out of here forever. I take the Artifact and close my inventory, turning and leaving the stone room. I look over to Stafan and Katlyn arguing over something stupid and whistle. With a quick smile they knew what we were doing now.

I whistle down to my bug and Katlyn does her bat and we begin our trek back up. We keep going, passing the bodies of the creatures we slain on our way down and letting the animals tear into them. That's when I realized something a little bit important.

"Guys," I ask behind me, "can the Argents even carry an Arthropleura?"

* * *

Greggory was sitting in his hut, finishing a very rudimentary form of a forge to fix smelt his metal. He just finished and placed a number of metal clumps into it and fueled it up with Spark Powder. He then sat down at his table and waited, looking over to his Pegomastax, Thief.

"Hey, Thief," he said down to the bird, "is it me, or does it feel we're missing out on something... kinda important?"


	16. Chapter 16: Effugere?

For the time, let us shift our focus onto the veteran herself, Alessandra. Having arrived back at base, I can finally return to my activities prior to Greggory's arrival. At least, I would if I wasn't being rudely interrupted by one of my radios. This better be important, less I am going to teach someone a very, _very_ hard lesson. I take out the device and pull it up to head.

"Alessandra," I speak into it, "this better be important."

"What, oh yes," the voice on the other side answers back. I could tell it was Katlyn. "Well, we have a tiny bit of good news."

"It better be, or else I will come over there."

"Well, you actually might want to."

"And why exactly is that, Katlyn?"

"Because," she responds, starting to get a more cheery tone, "we've got the last one."

I could feel myself actually get a little happy hearing this, which is weird for me. Nothing has ever made me glad on this Island, and it never will because now we can get off. "Katlyn. Tell me you are serious."

"Oh, I am-"

I cut her off, "Because, if you aren't, I will figuratively... no, _letteralmente_ rip your spine out of your _micio_."

"I... don't understand that, but I am not kidding here. We can finally get of this bitch!"

"Oh, Katlyn, please do not call The Island a 'bitch'. It is like my baby. My deadly, homicidal baby."

"Oh my God, you and your weird attachment to this lump of rock... Look, just get over here."

"Sure, I'll be there in... I don't know, twenty minu-"

This time, she cuts me off, "And bring the new guy with you."

I am actually taken back with this for a second. Well, not really taken back, but more surprised. I suppose she does have a point, we can't just let him rot here, but... He's done absolutely nothing of importance except maybe be a plot device. We've done literally everything, and he's done jack! "Ugh... alright, I'll grab him. But you owe me."

"Great! I'll tell Stefan and Andre! Ta-ta!" She gets off and the sound of static replaces her. I toss the radio back into my Implant and sigh. I really did not want to do this. Well, I do, just not bring the new guy. Why should I bother saving him? I tried to murder him less than three days ago! Oh, I would just ditch Greggory if I could. Well, I suppose I have no choice.

I whistle for Lupo, getting him in front of me almost instantly. "Lupo, looks like we are to be going." He barks at me and we start walking. I'm not going to ride him, he deserves a break. But, since I do need to pick up that annoying Canadian, I will take another to wolf. I whistle and my second strongest, Brand, comes running beside me. With them, I take my leave quite possibly for the last time. I am not a sentimental person, but I feel something for this place. A decade. A decade I have been stuck here, and now I'm leaving. Pretty much a second home at this point. Hell, if I went back, would anyone even remember me? Will anything even be the same? Will Italy still have the same Prime Minister? Hope not. Didn't quite care for Napolitano even though he's only been in charge for a year.

We trudge through the thick of the jungle until we reach one of the main clearings, with a large amount of activity for this time of day. Everything has been active lately. I don't like this, I don't like random changes of the norm. But, it was nothing too bad, just a few more Parasaurs and extra Dilos here and there. Plus, two different looking Dilos. I have literally never seen one of those reptiles with red scales, and I certainly never seen one just run around without an arm. I should shoot them. Eh, or not, I'm pretty lower than I'm comfortable being. I simply pass them all and continue, hitting the river and walking aside it. That's when I got another headache out of nowhere, completely splitting my concentration.

This headache, this is the third in the past day. I never have headaches. Not until that Greggory showed up. No... not until that Giga fight. Right after the fight, with that dumb explosion in the sky. I look up and see that dot again. Holy shit, that dot is bigger. Very, very slightly, but it is bigger. Looking at it just worsens the headache and I start hearing those weird whisperings again. This time the words are more clear. I'm able to make out 'Experiment failed... promise in the female... make exception... to the...' It's very vague and fuzzy, but interesting all the same. And promise in the female? Whatever this voice was, it was talking about me. _Dio mio_ , Maybe I am going insane.

For a number of minutes we walk down the river and into the Redwoods. Not really wanting to make my meeting with Greggory any closer, I take a small detour through the forest. With this detour, I take a look around the large stone ruins around the edges. I never did learn where these remains came from. I suppose that's a secret that shall never be answered. With these ruins I happen to apon a very familiar box. A small metal box that had my first found document in it. Oh, the memories. At times like these, I have to ask myself; is leaving what I want to do? I've spent so much time here, made a home, made some friends, killed a bunch of people. Too much of my life has happened here. Then again, it is filled with murderistic dinosaurs and prehistoric abominations. This is a very equal scale of options.

After exploring a small bit, I decide I have to face what I really didn't. Someone that annoys me. To save his life. If I take any consolation in this, it's that once we're off The Island, I can get far, far away from him. Something about him pisses me off, and I hate that. I sigh and start towards the volcano, and, in turn, Greggory. I walk through the woods with relatively little problems, minus a couple bugs and a rogue Bee, and was finally met with the small, depressing excuse of a base. Inside, I am certain, is an equally small and equally depressing excuse for a survivor named Greggory. I walk up to the shack and whistle to my wolves and they stop. I knock on the door and am met with his stupid, stupid face.

And I mean _stupido_. A barely acceptable jawline, eyes too far apart, nose that looks like it was broken and not fixed right, not to mention covered in bruises and cuts. It's almost like badass kicked his ass the other day. Wonder who that could've been? Besides his face, his hair was dumb as well. Just jet black. Not cool.

After a second, Greggory smiles and greets me, "Alessandra! It is great to see you! Unless of course you're here to try and kill me again?" He laughs a little, but I could feel a sense of awkwardness and slight fear.

"No," I respond, "I am done with the murder attempts for the moment. Katlyn and the other Mountaineers have informed me they have found something that could get us out of here for good."

Greggory doesn't even try to hide the sudden excitement, "Are you serious? That is freaking amazing! Alright, let's go!" He steps back in for a minute and comes out with that little Pegomastax on his shoulder. He whistles over and the Hyaenodon and Arthropleura get up and hurry to his side. "Alright, where we going for this?"

I turn and start walking towards the snowcapped north of The Island, making sure everyone in the group was with me. "We are going to the Mountaineers base under the Blue Obelisk. It'll be a long trek, so shut up."

"Oh, ok then. I'll try to be quiet!"

"You are apparently very bad at trying."

He doesn't respond, proving me wrong. He can be quiet for a time. Let's see how far that goes. We keep walking until we reach the edge of the snow, to which I take out my spyglass. I open it up and take a look at the immediate area and our main path. I scan and see nothing of major threat, minus a bird or two. I do see one thing of interest, something I should've expected but still didn't want to see. Tracks. Colossal tracks bigger than a Trike. I don't need to inspect them any further to know who made them. Luckily, they were leading in a different direction than where we were going.

I put the glass down and start again, quickly leaving behind Greggory and his animals. Was I trying to abandon him in one of the most dangerous places on The Island? Maybe. _Devo dare un damn?_ No. If he gets left behind because he got lost, and I were to lie and say he actually enjoyed this place, things will happen. Although for the time being, things won't happen because he is not annoying me. What is annoying me is I come up here at least twenty times a month and still forget to bring warm clothing! I have the materials and the proper machine to make Fur clothing, yet I do not. Not important really.

We trudge through the snow and the base of the mountain. At this point I decide to hop onto Lupo's back. I turn to Greggory and nod towards my other wolf. He takes a minute, but three or four more nods he gets the point and climbs onto him. He doesn't take hints very well apparently. I turn back and move forward, rushing up to the top being followed by Greggory. Making it to the top, we are met by the Behemoth Gate that protects the Mountaineers base. I hop off of Lupo and walk up to the door. I bang hard on the door, "Hey, Andre! Open the hell up!" As planned, the door opens in and I am met with the French leader himself.

"Ah, Alessandra! Gregg! How great of you two to make it!" He waves us in and leads us to the large meeting table. "Alright, so, do you wish to know our plan or simply leave?"

Greggory answers before I can say anything, "I would like some exposition please!"

"Alright then," Andre begins, "several years ago when I first arrived on this Island, I discovered a notebook. Within this book was a number of important documents, the most important being a theoretical way of escaping The Island. This way being the collection of several Artifacts, some of which are held by Alessandra here. With the Artifacts and the power of the Obelisk, we shall make a temporary portal home!"

"And," I add in, "this is the only things I've actually helped anyone on this Island with before."

"Yes," Andre starts again, "she has actually helped in this situation. And now, after so many years, we are going home again. Now, exposition out of the way, are you ready?"

This gets a combined yes from the both of us. With this, Andre claps his hands and stands up, turning and fast walking to the main building in the mountain. We come in and see Katlyn and Stefan gathering and getting items together in the corner. Andre beckons everyone and gather in the middle of the room.

"Alright, everyone," Andre announces, very excitedly, "let's ditch this bitch!"


	17. Chapter 17: Et Mater: Pars Prima

We were all standing in the middle of the Mountaineers base, everyone except myself and Alessandra with some sort of baggage. I am still unsure how these Artifacts and a flying tower can get them off this. But hey, these guys are the experts I assume. Definitely been here longer than I have. After a few minutes of final packing, everyone started to leave the building. I was the last one out with Thief and Oilslick by my side still. From the looks of things, me and the veteran are the only ones to bring any of our companions along. I decide it would be a good moment to ask about this. "Uh, excuse me guys? Random, and pretty dumb question. Why aren't you bringing any of these guys with you?" I motion around to the vast collection of dinosaurs and animals meandering around.

The three Mountaineers look at each other for a minute before Andre looks back at me, "Why would we?"

"Well," I tried to explain, "nobody would ever try to go against you and you will be the most powerful person in your general area?"

Alessandra chuckles at this and nods, "Ok, I like the way this _idiota_ thinks! He has a point, you cavalcade of fuck ups need these beasts. If we all get sent to the same place, we could take it over like nothing!"

"See?" I ask, motioning towards the woman, "This crazy bitch knows what's up!"

The Mountaineers look at us for a minute before Stefan shrugs and whistles a few times. When he does, a number of creatures start walking towards them. From what I could see they were a bunch of giant bears, a couple Carnos, a number of Raptors, and a small flying thing landing on his shoulder. Looked like a parrot. I'ma call that thing a Parrotsaur. Eventually Katlyn joined in and whistled over to the side, getting the attention of a pair of very large bats, her bird from earlier, and three large crocodiles... or were those alligators? Large reptiles that walked on four legs and were very large. Andre looked at the two and sighed, whistling behind him. I was surprised at what I saw. What scuttled behind him was another Arthropleura, a pure black one. Must have listened to what I said before. He is also joined by some boar looking animals, a giant bipedal bird with large claws, and another giant bird except it looked fairly bigger and the claws weren't as menacing.

All in all, these guys had a pretty decent mini army going on. Everyone looks around and Andre even gives a little smirk. "Alright everyone, I suppose we can do a little attacking. No going overboard, zough. Now, to ze Obelisk!" He shouts and walks a few feet forward, stopping at a tiny pedestal thing. "We are now at ze Obelisk!"

I slap my face and walked up to the pedestal. "You know, you don't have to narrate everything we're doing. We can tell where we are." This greets me with a smack on the back of the head by Andre and another from Katlyn.

"He can narrate if he wants to!" Katlyn tells me, stepping besides me to see the pedestal. The other two step up to us, and look at the diamond shaped pillar. I was still unsure what the hell these things do, if anything but I was proved wrong when Andre pulled up his arm and opened his Specimen Implant. I was unsure what he did, but after several minutes there was a small glow coming off the pillar. I take a step back and look around. Somehow all of the animals and dinosaurs gather into the steel floor around all of us. "Uh... Ok, Andre? A little narration would actually be pretty nice right now." Katlyn asks her leader, looking around at the sudden approach of the creatures.

I don't know about everyone else, but the sudden feeling of curiosity quickly change to confusion and fear as the glow on the pillar shot up into the sky and created a dome around the five of us and our companions. Alessandra was the first to react by bringing out her gun, giving a few pistol shots into the pillar. This does nothing but ricochey and hit her in the knee. Good thing she was wearing metal armor, but it obviously still hurt. " _Fanculo! Curare il mio riflesso di paura!"_ She shouted, lowering her weapon. "Can't shoot it. I don't like that." Well, she does have a point there. I don't think any of us like what's happening here. For a minute the dome simply hovered over us, before the entire area is filled with a blinding white light.

I then felt my body hit the ground. Hard. It took me a minute before getting up, Being forced into it by a kick into the side. Yep, that was Alessandra. I know her kicks pretty well at this point. I wave my hand and pick myself all the way up. When I did, I was surprised at what I saw. Not exactly surprised, but more in awe. The area was a giant cave with large plants covering the floors and walls, the ceiling filled with several holes with light blasting in. I couldn't see anything from outside, aside from a few clouds. I look around and see that all of the creatures, along with the Mountaineers and Alessandra, were standing with me on the metal floor. I was about to say something before getting interrupted by a loud growl followed by a roar.

We all look in the direction of the sounds, each pulling out a different weapon. I look around and am more surprised by the weapons I see everyone pull out. Katlyn takes out the shotgun from a few nights ago, Andre reaches into his baggage and pulls out what looks like a rocket launcher, and Stefan grabs a large harpoon gun. I look to the side and see Alessandra on Lupo with her machine gun pulled out. I honestly feel a little bit insecure considering I only have a pistol with very few bullets and a bow and arrows. Hopefully this thing is not a major danger. I step towards the back and aim the gun up towards the dark cavern the roars were coming out, now replaced with a selection of hissing and scuttling sounds. I take the first shot seeing a creature crawl out the side of it, walking on the walls. I could almost make out the shape of a... spider?

This leads to another roar from the cavern, leading to the producer of the noise finally stepping out. I am taken back from the sight of the thing. I can't even begin to comprehend what this monster is. It puts the Giga's size to shame, for one thing. It's body is colossal, looking like some mutated green arachnid. It's legs were bigger than the redwoods I passed on The Island, and a good eighty feet long on each segment. The face had four large main eyes in the front and four, smaller eyes on each side of those. That's twenty freaking eyes! It's abdomen had a number of giant spikes pointing out side and back, each with a few glowing orange sacks underneath them. I was confused at first until one of them burst open and a small, less menacing version of the giant spider.

We all stare at it for a minute before I'm elbowed by Alessandra, "Greggory," she asks, "happen to have any more Troodons to pull out of you ass?"

I hold back a chuckle before answering, "Sadly, no. But give me a minute and I might have something. Or, at the least, seventy-five percent of something."

"Hmm," she responds back before looking up at the spider monster, "you have thirty seconds."

"Twenty bucks and I can make it twenty. You know, if we get out of here."


	18. Chapter 18: Et Mater: Pars Duarum

I looked around at everybody. They all seemed extremely competent and capable of defeating this thing, but one thing stood out. They were all visibly terrified, even Alessandra. I couldn't believe it but she seemed the most shaken up about this than anyone. Then again, I couldn't see myself. They were all quickly equipping themselves with armor and weapons they packed with them. Some metal armor, big guns, I even think I say Katlyn pull out a few grenades. I don't know why, but looking up it almost seemed like the giant spider creature was waiting for us. It was noticeably patient which, for a monster bigger than the Giga, surprised me. After everyone seemed to be ready, minus me of course, they all hopped onto some kind of dino. Stefan got onto the giant boar things he brought which caused some kind of green wave of something go through the entire cave, Andre got onto the giant bird and made it roar for some reason. Alessandra, naturally, climbed onto Lupo and howled, which somehow gave it a strange red glow. The other wolves that everyone brought howled afterwards. Guess I know who the alpha is in this pack. Katlyn quickly jumped on the back of one of the crocodile creatures and threw the small bird off of her. I was the only one without something to ride. Great, I'm not a target of interest! Too small to be noticed.

At least, that's what I thought when the spider finally roared again, shaking the entire cave and sending more of the smaller spiders at us and a number heading straight for me. I am scared so the only thing I do is shoot without thinking. Good thing too, because I hit two of them dead in the head and right in the middle of all eight eyes. This would have been good if things worked normally here. Only one of them fell, the other three continued to charge at me. I don't know what compelled me to do this, but I put away my pistol and took out a spear. Is it extremely underpowered? Yes. Do I give any shits? Absolutely not. Guns aren't the best when something is literally on top of you. The closer they got, the more spiders started climbing out of the main cavern and the large one's back. Eventually Oilslick and Hiccup got into the fight, spiting and biting the spiders, taking them out and giving me a little leeway to see. I don't really know if I wanted to see what I did to be honest.

The Mountaineers and their creatures were charging at the spiders, shooting from their mounts and biting, clawing, pecking, and pouncing onto the smaller spiders. Of course Alessandra was at the front of the fight, using Lupo to maul and rip apart a larger arachnid throwing a borderline ocean of green... blood I want to say? It was a liquid coming out of the spiders that poured in a giant puddle in the middle of the battle. Andre and his giant bird thing was staying more near the back, still roaring at the group and the giant spiders. I couldn't tell what she was doing until I looked over and noticed something kind of cool. The creatures that were obviously on our side have a green aura coming off of them and I could see them getting more aggressive with their attacks, tearing all of the spiders a new spinnerette. Meanwhile, I saw some spiders getting a red aura around them and turning tail to run. Found our support. Protect him with everything.

I looked back to my area of the battle and saw I was taking too much time admiring everyone else. While I was watching, at least a dozen more arachnids started coming towards me. One was already close enough to where he could jump at me and knock me to the floor, shoving an extremely sharp and pointed leg straight into my legs. I let out a yell and triy to hold it off with a spear but those gross pincer things on it's mouth were almost right on my face. I pushed it up before hearing a crazking sound. Looking down I could clearly see that the spear was starting to snap in the middle. With one big heave I almost got the creature off, before the spear finally broke and it fell onto me. At least, it would if Hiccup didn't jump and shoved her jaws into the beast's abdomen. I tried to force myself up before getting a burning wave of pain going up my entire leg and making me fall to a knee. I can work with this, this can be worked with. Very hard, but I can do it. Which I did as I picked up a new spear and stab the next arachnid in the face. Me, Hiccup and Oilslick kept keeping a tight defense around myself as everyone kept to their own portion of the fight. Once I have a little breathing room, I try to watch the rest of the battle again.

Katlyn appeared to be having fun, taking out spider after spider with crocodiles and bears. I couldn't tell what was going through everyone's thoughts, but I could feel fear coming from them. It still seemed that despite the badassness there was terror amongst these veterans. Guess they've never had this problem before. But they don't seem to be having any problem with it. Aside from me and... Andre of all people? He was being extremely swarmed and even knocked off from his bird. The two large birds started attacking the spiders, but not getting into a helpful distance to save him. I look around myself and see I'm safe for the time being, so I take out my pistol and take a very careful aim. Once I am more than positive of my shot, I pull the trigger twice and take out both spiders on the Mountaineer. Gotta love Boy Scouts allowing and teaching children how to handle firearms. He looks over and smirks before getting back up, rushing back over to the birds and getting on the smaller of the two with the giant claws. He tears up each spider as he comes to my side before jumping down.

"Damn good shot you got zere, Gregg," he says, pulling out some primitive looking bandages, "Zese will hold your leg togezer, and drink zis." He hands me some kind of red drink while wrapping my leg up. I pretty much down the entire thing as soon as take it, and am filled with a strange, warm feeling. My whole body went pretty numb for a few seconds before my whole body starts getting extremely stronger, at least for a moment. "Healing drink. Good, eh? Listen, take ze Zerizeno and pay attention to ze Araneos. Let us deal wiz ze big guy, got?"

I nod my head and somehow force myself onto my feet again. My leg wasn't the best, but at least I can walk again. I assumed this big bird he brought over was the Therizeno thing he mentioned, so I grab one of the metal hoops of the saddle and climb all the way up. Ok, this is weird. I don't know how to control this thing aside steering, how am I supposed to attack? I test some things out and pushed my heels into its ribs, causing it to strike out with the giant clawed arms. "Oh yeah, I can do this. Andre, you are a man of respect! I shall take out the spiders." With that, Andre gives me a thumbs up and pulls out his rifle, rushing over to the other bird. I turn the bird and start off in the direction of the smallest group of Araneos I could fine, swiping and biting down on each of them. I look down and see Oilslick and Hiccup doing the same. I am surprised at this, considering how low leveled these guys are.

I pay attention to the spiders and notice that their numbers are slimming, only a few more remaining and coming towards us. At least that is what I thought until I heard another roar come from the big one. Looking over I say the large orange cyst things growing under the spikes on it's back. The cysts were pulsing and eventually exploded, throwing out more and more Araneos. The cyst layer fell off and soon at least five took their place. That's when I figured out what the deal was. This monster was these creatures mother. More importantly, this thing made more of them. I look over and see that everyone else was unaware of this. I yell out to them, "Guys! That thing is making more spiders!"

This catches a temporarily free Alessandra to look up and take aim at the spiders falling to the ground. She lands each of them and kills all of the ones in the air. "Fuck!" She yells, rushing over to me, "Greggory, tell me you have a plan or else I am going to blow your head off!"

"Oh, uh..." I take a moment to think, my entire attention going off when the pain in my leg returns. That's when I got it. Something this big has a big center of gravity. Big center of gravity means that it needs more to keep itself up. Take out what's holding it up, it becomes just that much easier to defeat it. "The legs... Wait, Katlyn! Katlyn had some grenades, and I think someone else has a rocket launcher, right?"

"Greggory, where are you going with this?" I lean over and show my leg which was still bleeding. The look on her face went from confusion to understanding to a very creepy smirk. She takes a few more shots at approaching spiders and turns around, going towards Katlyn and Stefan, laughing like a crazy person. "It's has been far too long since I blew something up."

That woman needs help. When we get home, I should introduce her to my therapist.


	19. Chapter 19: Et Mater: Pars Tribus

So, blowing the thing to smithereens is how we are going to play this I guess. I am totally on board, especially because it was my idea, but there are so many variables we are not taking into consideration. What if these little eight-legged bastards decide to get all up in the firing zone? What if her legs are stronger than I think they are? What if it doesn't have that heavy of a center of gravity that I think it does? God, Greggory, cut it out. You've never got anywhere in life thinking things out. Honestly, if I think through half the things I should I would get absolutely nothing done. Although with the getting things done, I am not really going to do that if I don't start fighting back. Fighting back and listening to when they're going to blow it up. Wait a second... did I tell her to tell me when they-

My thought is interrupted as I watch a line of smoke fly less than three feet away from my face. I didn't even see the rocket, only what came after. That includes the explosion on the giant arachnid, causing it to roar in pain and the bright green blood flowing out of the wound. The entire cave shook and many boulders fell from the ceiling. Funny thing, the explosion isn't the thing that caused it, but rather the roar from the spider mother... No, there's a better name than that. Broodmother. The Broodmother's leg had a large hole in the side of it, but was somehow still connected by a half-foot of skin and chitin. Strangely enough, the bleeding stopped after a few seconds and the roaring stopped. The smaller Araneos looked back at us and started back at us, going much faster and being noticeably more violent. Ok, this is a Catch 22 right here. The more we hurt that, the more they hurt us. Wait, is that a Catch 22? Let's see... 1961 novel, coined by Joseph Heller, used to explain a paradoxical situation where the protagonist can't continue because... Why am I doing this right now, we are about to die!

A battle that I am not doing the best in as I am almost thrown off the giant bird by a smaller Araneo. It jumped up and tried to tackle me off but gets a good tearing into from Thief, still on my shoulder. From all the excitement I nearly forgot about the little guy. Now I won't because he is the best weapon on my person right now. Get it? On my person? I am about to die, why am I making puns? At least it can't get any worse... Yep, definitely not any worse than what it is... I try to predict what is about to happen but nothing really happens aside from me using the bird to brutally murder and terrify a bunch of spiders. And then, another explosion happens, but not on the mother but on the ceiling above her. The explosion did exactly as I would expect it would, with several random pieces of rock and ceiling falling onto her and the spiders. This seems to be playing in our favor for the moment, aside from the fact the Araneos were starting to get more and more aggressive to us.

I look over and see that they all are having more trouble than I thought beforehand. There are several spider on top of them, both literally and figuratively. They all seemed to handle themselves somehow, with all of the unmanned dinos helping and attacking at all times. Surprisingly, Alessandra appeared to be having the most problems with being webbed and stabbed at by at least a half dozen giant spiders. I try to turn the bird in her direction, throwing several spiders with it's tail and rushing over to her. I give the roar that strengthens the other dinos and claw down at the Araneos, killing and getting them away from Alessandra. The woman looks up and gives me a quick thumbs-up before charging with her wolves and tearing apart the nearest spider. At least she knows how to take care of her anger in a constructive way. And by constructive, I mean extremely dangerous and probably not healthy. Not healthy for the things on the other side of her that is.

After she finishes the spider she brings up the launcher again and puts another rocket into it. She aims up at the colossal spider and fires, shooting one directly into another leg. This time, she completely takes off the leg and a rather big chunk of the beast's abdomen. To this day, I never thought I would see a giant spider have the face of the living embodiment of hatred and anger stare directly down at me. First time for everything I suppose. The mother was finally getting into the fight, walking her way towards us and shooting giant blobs of webbing. One good thing, her leg that was barely holding on finally snapped off from the sudden and sporadic movements. One down on the right side, one down on the left. We're getting closer.

I look over to Alessandra again. "Alessandra, we need some more of that right about now. Like, enough to stop her before it tramples us!"

"Well, I'm sorry Greggory," she responded, putting another missile into the rocket launcher, "but this is the last on, and I don't think I can get a good hit with it moving so much."

Damn, she was right. For something so big and missing two legs, the Broodmother was surprisingly fast and still had the sense to use the walls of the caves. Right now it was half on the ground and half on the wall closest to the Mountaineers. Katlyn seemed to be the only one to notice as she rode her giant bird over to opposite wall. She, she did something a tiny bit unexpected. She rushed up to the side of it and started tearing into the exposed wound of the spiders abdomen. Attacking the wound that shows the most weakness to the monster. That is actually really smart. At least, it would be if she wasn't almost instantly flicked across the cave by a pissed off Broodmother. She is easily thrown off the bird and smacks hard against the wall, letting out an audible cracking sound before falling to the floor. I couldn't tell if the sound came from her or the now cracked stone wall, but whatever it was it obviously didn't affect Katlyn. She fell and stumbled for a second before quickly standing up and bringing out her shotgun again and blasting off a few Araneos. Damn, these people are so freaking competent in the face of insanity and danger.

I get over from the initial surprise of Katlyn taking on and being thrown by the spider and go back to my attack. And by 'attack' I mean my terrifying the spiders and strength boosting everyone that isn't trying to murder me at the moment. My God, I feel like I'm back playing DnD with my cousins. Making me the fucking bard, bunch of bastards. But, that did teach me to always make sure the party is properly strengthened and boosted in every way poss- I am cut of from my thought, again, from a sudden explosion followed by a lot of smaller explosions. I look over and see that, in a few moments of no onslaught, Katlyn pulled out and was unpinning... grenades? Oh my God, those are freaking cluster grenades. How in the... you know what, screw it. I am done asking questions. She throws another one and it make impact and explodes right at the foot of one of the back legs. The sharp point of the limb falling off and making the Broodmother stumble. Three out of eight down.

That's when something different happened. All of the orange egg sacs on her back explode into Araneos and fall off, no more taking their place. Then, she turned around and started stabbing her two front legs at Katlyn, using the sharp points to dig into the ground and attempt to cut. The mother obviously didn't care about the spiders that came off of her because she easily stabbed straight through over dozen Araneos in her rampage. This both gave good and bad facts in our battle. Good thing: Less and less spiders to attack us. Bad thing: The Broodmother is on total 'Archer-fake-chemo-revenge rampage' mode and more than likely won't stop. Ok, how did he stop in the episode? Let's see... killed the Irish mob, got real chemo drugs, went slightly insane, shoved the grenade up the dudes-hold up a second! He shoved a grenade up the dudes ass! Katlyn has a number of cluster grenades, the spider's spinneret is it's most vulnerable part of it's body, and the explosion that comes from a grenade always has some form of fire and spider web is extremely flammable. Man, I am a freaking... would I say genius or pervert minded in this situation? I mean, I am talking about shoving something into a female spiders ass.

Damn, maybe I need to see a therapist more so than Alessandra.


	20. Chapter 20: Et Mater: Pars Quattuor

I rush over to the Mountaineers and Alessandra who, at this point, has destroyed all of the spiders that were left, minus a few sticking to their mother and around Katlyn. Speaking of the Broodmother, she is still stabbing at her but not making any progress. Katlyn's apparently found a small divot in the wall to hide in and was shooting at it. Smart, but won't hold off forever. Once the area is clear of spiders, I jump of the Yutyrannus and go over to everyone. This plan is going to sound stupid, but God damn it, it's all I have! Shoving things up other things butts! Geez, what is my life...

"Ok," I start once everyone's attention is to me, "I have an idea. It's a stupid idea, but it's the only one we have."

"Oh great," Alessandra says slightly sarcastically, "were you finally able to pull that Troodon out of your idiot ass?"

"No," I respond, "we are actually doing kind of the opposite. In which, I mean we are going to need explosives and access to the Broodmother's spinneret. And I mean, like, full blown access. Like, enough for someone to throw something inside of it." As I expected, this got met with three differing levels of confused before Andre finally shakes his head and steps forward.

"Gregg," he says, "I get what you are going for, but it is absolutely idiotic. Also, zat one over zere," he points to Katlyn, "is our explosives person. She always has somezing zat can blow up on her!" He quickly raises his pistol and shoots beside me where a stray spider made it's way. "Also, even zuogh zere are less Araneos, ze one's zat are left are right at ze mosters feet!"

"Ok, first off, she's called the Broodmother. I came up with the name so we are going to call her that. Secondly-" I am cut off from Stefan holding up his hand.

"Vait, you named zat creature? Alzo, zat iz a very dumb name."

"Excuse me?" I ask him, a little annoyed he's questioning my name. "Do you have anything better for her?"

"Uh, duh. Ze Arachnabeast!"

Alessandra then comes into the conversation, "No, no, no. _Otto Demone Leggero_ is far more fitting."

"I... ok, I hate to zay it, but Alezzandra iz right. Zat iz a hell of a lot better."

We go back and forth with this for a few moments before Andre shoots his pistol into the air a few times to catch our attention. "Are we seriously doing this right now? I mean, _quel genre d'idit etes-vous_? Katlyn is dying over there!" He points his pistol and fires at the direction of Katlyn, hitting a spider that was on the Broodmothers leg. "Forget names, right now we have an extremely idiotic plan that might work if we could even come close to pull it together. Someone, distract the Broodmother so we can get away from Katlyn. Everyone else, get ze explosives and wait for more directions from Greggory. Good? Good. Go!" He fires again into the air again and rides to one of the walls with Stefan and shoots up at the giant spider.

"Well," Alessandra says hopping back onto Lupo, "I guess that means we're on blondie duty. Try to keep up, Greggory." With that, she starts off and is followed by the other wolf and the boar creatures plus the crocodile. It's weird how fast everything her is in such a moment of craziness. But that isn't important. Like she said, we're on blondie duty.

I climb back onto the giant bird and charge over to the small crevice Katlyn was hiding in. I look over and see that the Mountaineers are surprisingly good at distractions. In the few seconds I was climbing and charging, those two had somehow got the majority of the Araneos to go after them, leaving the only obstacle in our way the Broodmother herself. That's when Alessandra takes a very hard left turn and rushes underneath the spider's head. She stood and fought for balance on Lupo's back as she pulled out a sword and slashed at the mother's neck. A huge flood of the green blood quickly covered her, but didn't slow down her target as much as I thought it would. It did, however, take her attention and was now turning away from Katlyn. After about half a minute, all the attention was turned in the opposite direction of, giving me one part of what I needed. Clear access to the spinneret. Two parts remain.

I rush over to the blonde and hop off the bird, grabbing her hand and helping her out of the hole. "Holy shit, Katlyn that was awesome and stupid. Mostly stupid. Not important. What is, is that I have a... mostly foolproof plan to take this thing down. I need your explosive expertise for this."

The woman looks at me for a second before giving me a slightly disturbing grin and pulling out another cluster grenade. "Just tell me where to throw, and my explosives will find the way."

"Yeah, well..." I thought for a second and turned to the Broodmother. I might need something more than just a cluster. "You... you have anything bigger?"

This gives Katlyn another huge smile and raises her Implant. After a second she pulls out two items: one block looking item, and a small box I could only assume was a trigger. "How does an ungodly amount of C4 sound?"

I look at her for a second before grabbing the bombs, "If we weren't about to die, I would kiss you right now. When I say go, pull the explosives."

"Yes sir!"

She tosses me a small stack of the bombs and takes out her gun. Now that she's got her part done, and I have two things that I need, all that is left is to throw these into that things spinneret. And I have no idea how to do that. Well, I am a firm believer in winging it, so... I clamber back onto the Yutyrannus and try to stay behind the Broodmother. The Araneos are basically nonexistent at the point and her attention is still on the maniac with the wolf running around the cavern arena. That's one things I've noticed about this place. The way it's laid out is almost like a coliseum with some obstacles. Shut up brian, I can analyze this later. Right now, I have to charge towards to the giant monsters ass. Why do I have to word things like that?

I get up behind the spider and look down to Alessandra. I was able to catch her when she looked back and waved my arm, trying to get her to keep the mother still. I assume she knew what I meant because she nodded and slowed her running to a slight zig-zag, staying more in place. As soon as the giant arachnid is stagnant enough, I stand up on the back of the bird and stagger up to the base of it's neck. I only have about ten of these charges, so I have to make them count. If anything I've learned so far goes into account, and this world is somehow video game like, then these will stick to what I throw them onto? Nobody got anywhere in life by thinking, so my gut it is. Although, going with your gut doesn't work how you plan it to either. I mean, look at A Royal Problem. Starlight didn't know what she was doing... at first, but later everything worked out by random chance! Haha, remembering cartoons gives me confidence to do stupid shit!

I take a steady aim and throw the charge at the back of the abdomin, only for her to move at the last second and it sticks to her leg. At least I was right about it sticking. Nine to go... I aim and throw it again, actually landing on the area around the spinnerett. Didn't go in, but at least I'm close. That's when something happened. The Broodmother opened the hole and aimed it forward, shooting webs at Alessandra and slowing her to the ground. Well, this gives me an advantage here. When the abdomen moves back to me, I throw three, not very well aimed, C4's at the mother. Two of the three land inside of her, the third on her other leg. I only have a fifth in the area I need to be. Random chance, if you are out there, let this be enough because I do not think I can land any more. I sit back onto the saddle and turn around, whistling at everyone else to make distance.

Once I am back at Katlyn's side, I look to make sure everyone is at a distance. The only survivor that wasn't away from the Broodmother was Alessandra. She got webbed to the ground. The Broodmother was leaning down towards her, and was too close for me to run and get her out of there. Only one thing can stop this, and I don't even know if it'll kill it. If it does, Alessandra still has to deal with the falling spider that is at least eighty times her size! Ok, losing one is acceptable to save four, and she is responsible for the deaths of who knows how many more survivors before me. I hate myself right now. I turn to Katlyn.

"Do it."

She looks at me and then to Alessandra and then down to the trigger, "Alessandra... Are you sure?"

"I said do it. At least if we do it now, there is a chance she will survive. If we wait, we can't save her."

Katlyn sighs and flicks up two levers and hovers her thumb over a big red button. After a second she presses it, and a light turns on the trigger. It takes a second, but the first charge I threw explodes, completely sending the second leg on her right side fall off. Then the one on her abdomen explodes and sends pieces of meat and green blood onto everyone on this side of the cave. Now, the _piece de resistance_. There are two simultaneous explosions inside the rear end of the spider. Not only did the C4 blow up, but it was enough to completely separate the Broodmother, making the head and abdomen into two different entities. The last one exploded the leg, which doesn't even matter at this point considering that the mother is now officially dead. Green blood, flesh, guts, and everything else was thrown in the center of the arena where I didn't even know it was. Talk about perfect positioning for a final attack.

I go over to try and help Alessandra but am instead surprised at he strangely badass scene I see before me. The head of the Broodmother fell directly onto where the veteran was standing, completely swallowing her and making her disappear. After a second, there is a large blade stabbing straight through the skull and pulling all the way down. The blade then grows into a full sword, then an arm. Then, covered in green blood and brain matter, Alessandra steps out and wipes the blood away from her eyes. "I live... I die... I live again! And Greggory, if you ever do something like that again, I will cut your nuts off!" She aims her sword at me quickly, throwing more blood at my face. I couldn't even be mad at this, I was just glad to see she was still alive.

We all gather around the corpse and look it over. After a few moments, Andre steps forward and flips up his Specimen Implant, probably looking around it's inventory. He looks around and tilts his head in curiosity. "I... I have no idea what zis stuff is," he admits putting his arm down, "Ok, who want's to know what we got?" This is met with a collective 'yes' from everyone. "Well, we got a... ugh, Beta Broodmother Trophy." I laugh at this and point in Ander and Alessandra's face, before it getting grabbed and almost broken. "And some zings called Tek Elements."

We all look at each other for a second before I suddenly remember something. "Did you say a... Beta Broodmother Trophy?"

"Yes, yes I did. Why?"

"Well... ok, first we need to get out of here. How do we leave this stupid cave?" Almost like it was waiting, the metal platform covered itself in light again, surrounding all of us and the dinosaurs. "Ok, I think that answers one question." For a few moments, the light covers us like before and flashes brightly, blinding me. When I can see again, we are back under the Blue Obelisk on The Island. "Now... as for the other question. I have a theory. A very, very, very weak theory. That trophy can help us get off this unholy motherfucker. That and two other trophies with a door at the volcano."

The other four look at me like I'm crazy for a second, before looking at something behind me. And I could tell they were looking behind me, they had that look on their faces. I turn and am taken back at the sight of five, floating, inverted pyramids glowing a faint white. They all have a letter on the triangular sides, all being the first initial of our names. I step up to the 'G' pyramid and open it up. What I see... completely baffles me. I didn't think it was possible, but I am still surprised at this Island. What it was, was a small rectangle. One with a side that can open and put a smaller rectangle in it. It had two distinct words on the front. 'Sony' and 'Walkman'. There was one thing that made it stand out the most though. On the back was a small sticker of the best princess, Luna. This is my Walkman. It was the last thing I had before coming here. It even had my mix tape in it. I take it and lower my Implant, making the Pyramid disappear.

I look around and see that everyone else has their own items. Katlyn was holding and tearing up at a small book with a lock on it. Andre held a helmet, one that I could almost make out... it was a WWI helmet, specifically of French manufacturing. He was crying over it more so than Katlyn was. Alessandra had a small red ball, just slightly bigger than a baseball. And lastly, Stefan had a jacket, although it looked more like a uniform. But, there was one thing about this uniform that threw me way off. On one shoulder was a small symbol, although it held a very large message about him. It was a small circle, with a swastika in the center of it.


	21. Chapter 21: Reliqua

After roughly an hour of patching ourselves up and setting ourselves in the Mountaineers base, we all took a few minutes to take count of the items we got from the box things. First thing I noticed was taht everyone was weirdly emotional about them. Which is what made me want to sit far away from Stefan and his jacket bearing anti-semetic symbolism. Now, I have seen this guy is kinda decent, but still. My parents were from Poland and I don't know how much that shows. God, a Polish Canadian. And here I thought a Chinese Canadian was weird for a story. Freaking Riodian. After Katlyn walks around and gives each of us... beer? Hey, you're only turn twenty-one once. Anyways, after she gives us our alchohol, I decide to be the first one to speak up.

"Alright, I think I speak for everyone when I say... Things got a little bit weird." I was trying to be funny to keep us up in our spirits. Of course, this is gets an annoyed groan from Alessandra of all people. I clear my throat before talking again, "But, one thing I do know is this. That trophy we have there is part of what we need to get out of here. Now, I know I said I know that's what it does, but it's the only theory we have so we're saying it's right. Secondly! Somehow, we all recieved something from our past that was near and dear to us. I have my Walkman with my own mixtape in it. Alessandra has the ball she played with her dad before he died, Katlyn got her sister's diary, Andre has his war helmet and Stefan has his... Nazi jacket. Does anyone have any idea what this means?"

They all look at each other for a second before Katlyn raises her hand, "Um, we do something amazing and get a proper reward for it?" I could tell that was more of a question than anything, but it sounded pretty decent for an answer. "I mean, I don't know what kind of reward it is, I mean my sister killed died holding this so..."

Alessadra comes in at this point, "And so did my father. He fell into the road trying to catch this after I threw it bad."

"Also," Andre points in, "this isn't actually _my_ helmet, but my comanding officer. You can actually see the hole where he got shot." He points to a small hole on the side and then another on the opposite side. A clean through and through. To end this unnecessary expository exchange, we all look over to Stefan for his imput.

He looks up and turns to all of us. "What? I don't have any emotion baggage on zis one. It vas my uniform."

I finally decide to finish us off with this thing, "Still can't believe you were a Nazi. Also can't believe we're from different time periods. I mean, leader dingus is from the first World War," I point over to Andre, "Stefan, the second World War. Alessandra is from twenty-thirteen before eveything went completely tits up. Katlyn is... when are you from again?"

"My best understanding is the first Black Plaque outbreak. I... sort of introduced it to the environment and now the Leeches have some super plaque or something."

"Right. And I'm from twenty-seventeen. So, whatever brought here either has the ability of time travel or abducted us in our time periods, kept us locked in some type of universal time stasis, and put us all in at a random time with no idea what they were doing."

Everyone looks at me for a second before laughing at me. Alessandra is the first to stop and comes over to us and places a hand on my shoulder, "Greggory. That is the most idiotic thing I have every heard. I am a believer in random luck and fate. If anything, this is a fever dream or coma and none of you are real. Or, one of you is in a coma and I'm not real... Oh, damn, I think I just threw myself into a mini exponential crisis."

"Dude, Alessandra," I stop her, "please stop, because I already have a beer in my hand and I really don't want you to make it twenty and a night I will both regret and will not remember. But forgetting all of that, I have an idea." I figured it was about time to take a break of our dickitry and get serious. Forget one stupid theory that probably wouldn't matter and go to one that will matter. "Yesterday, I went up to the top of the volcano and I saw something. It was, like, a door kind of thing. I went to a thing that looked literally exactly like the pedestal and opened it, and do you know what I saw? Come on, any guess's?"

Andra raises his hand first, taking the Broodmother Trophy out and sets it on the table. "I am going to assume it's this thing?"

I snap and point at him, giving a slightly crazy grin, "Exactly, my dear Frenchie! It needed three trophies. A Broodmother Trophy, a Megapithicus Trophy, and, my personal favorite to look forward to, a Dragon Trophy. All of which, do not sound like real life creatures. Obviously, these trophy creatures which I am going to call Bosses, are of some fictional descent. Apparently, we are sent to the Bosses by putting the Artifact thingies into the pedestal thingies under the Obelisk thingies. Then, we put the trophy thingies into the pedestal thingie at the volcano door thingie. Got it?"

Stefan raises his hand. "Everything except for 'thingies'."

"Good, so everyone has everything. Now, let's get a few more explosives, some more Artifacts and start up a couple Boss fights! Who's with me?" I look around only to be met with a bunch of blank stares. I feel as though I was missing something here.

After exchanging glances, Andre puts down his beer and stands up. "Greggory. I don't know what you zink, but ze Artifacts are very, very, _very_ difficult to obtain. Like, we lost a number of men and women to ze caverns in which zey were hidden. I had to kill a couple because of zeir super rabies would have killed zem slower." He walks over to a large map on the wall. It almost looked like a map of The Island. "You see, we are here," he points to a mountain at the top of the map, "and ze closest cavern is..." he traces his finger down the river and to the left, stopping at a small red pin they placed at a river curve, "here. It's called the Snow Cave. Simple, I know, but very dangerous. It took almost seven times to get to the Artifact. It is freezing cold, the creatures only appear at level one hundred and twenty or higher, and the water injures you as soon as you touch it."

"Oh..." I am able to let out, taking in the realization of the dangers. But, it's only one cave. Surely they can't all be that terrible. "Well, are there any that isn't instant death for me? I mean, I'm only, like, level thirty-seven. That Boss gave me quite a lot of levels, but I still feel that is bad for me in there?"

"Exactly. It is horrible. If we want to get out of here, we all have to go where our levels and abilities are equal to zose inside..." He takes a second to look over the map before pointing to a green pin right next to the center, next to the volcano, "Ze Center Cave seems like a decent fit for you right now, Greggory. We can lend you some better armor, a bit of more reliable weaponry. You can make it down, grab ze Artifact of ze Clever, and get back up in roughly an hour."

I am about to say something but am interrupted by Alessandra turning to the Frenchman. "Excuse me? More reliable weaponry? Are you saying my Mastercraft Pistol is not a reliable weapon?"

"Well, in comparison to our Ascendant Assault Rifles, it is barely anything of use." He responds, giving a smug look at her, and pulling out his gun. "I mean, you have to admit I did do ze most amount of damage to ze Broodmozer prior to Greggory blowing her up."

"Oh really now? Are you forgetting who literally slit it's throat and cut her way out of it's head? I mean, sure it wasn't the most damage but I was the most extravagant and badass of the battle. Also, I was the most distracting so _idiota_ over here could land the killing blow. In my opinion, also known as the only opinion that matters, I was the most important in the fight."

Is... is this a dick measuring contest right now? Am I really watching these two go against who was better in a battle that came out of nowhere? I decide to step back in and add a little bit of humor do descend the argument. "You know, Andre, if you are literally having a dick measuring contest with a woman, you must of been born with the worlds cruelest of handicaps." This is met with loud laughter from everyone, and even a small chuckle from Andre himself. "But, seriously. I would appreciate any weapons or armor or creatures or anything that can get me-I mean, us out of here. I saw there were a few extra giant boars outside if you're willing to part?" I ask, wanting to get something minus all the work so I could get to the fun stuff.

The Mountaineers look at each other before Stefan sighs and stands up, stepping outside and waving to me, "Come on, ve can part vith somezing right nov." I quickly stand up and rush outside with him, still holding and drinking the beer. When I get outside I look around and go behind the Russian. He is kneeling over a small and hairy creature that almost looks like... "You may have an Otter. Believe me, zey are most useful at vhere you are nov."

"An... Otter." I say a little halfheartedly, secretly wishing for something bigger and/or more badass. "That's great. Cute little things, I guess. So, I just... pick one?"

"Yes, go ahead! Ve have many more zan ve need anyvay!"

I nod and look over the small, slender creatures. They are awfully cute, too cute for something on this Island to live. When we get our way home, I am taking one of these little things with me. I eventually come across one that had a fairly interesting color pattern that caught my eye. It had an almost black coat with a slight... I almsot want to say blue stripe going down it's back with two paler blue stripes along those. One thing that I noticed the most was that one of his eyes were completely milky white with a small scar across it.

"I'll take this little guy," I say, reaching out and petting the Otter on the head. He let's out a quiet purring noise and nuzzles into my hand. "Oh, I think the he likes me."

"Looks like it. Put that Pego off your shoulders and pick him up, he has one really cool thing only an Otter can do."

I look at him for a second before setting Thief onto the ground and reach for the black and blue water creature. Almost instantly, the Otter climbs onto my arm and settles himself in between my neck and shoulders. I immediately felt a wave of warmth flow through my body as he nuzzled into me. "Oh my God, this is freaking amazing. I love this creature so much right now. Can I please have him?"

He laughs and pats me on the back, almost throwing me across the base. Dude was strong. "Of course you can, Gregg! I vouldn't have brought you out here if I vouldn't let you. So, I take it you vant Ol' Blue?"

"Ol' Blue? That is a nice name, and yes please!" I nod and he smirks, petting the Otter on the head and stepping back into the recreational part of the base, to which I follow. When I enter I am... honestly, not that surprised at what I see. "Sweet Black fucking Sabbath. What is wrong with you people?"

Alessandra was standing over Katlyn, holding her pistol by the barrel and yelling something in Italian. I couldn't make much of it our but I'm pretty sure I heard 'bitch', 'better', and 'reliable.' Meanwhile, Andre was holding the woman's arm back with a upside down beer mug in his other hand trying to hit her over the head. He was still going on about how Ascendant is better than Masterclass and she was being outrageous over a small differentiation between the two blueprints. Katlyn, while still under Alessandra, was shouting something about she'll infect all of us and not afraid to go all 'British discovering Africa, on her. This whole situation is a cluster fuck of idiocy and, if I was a betting man, total scene of pure comic relief.


	22. Chapter 22: Ludum Consilium

"Ok," I say, finally being able to pull apart Alessandra and the Mountaineers with the help of Stefan, "now that we agree that Alessandra's pistol is the best weapon we have, can we get back to business?" I ask, looking around the three very disgruntled survivors. Everyone simply groans and nods, with Alessandra letting out an annoyed ' _Idiota_ '. "Good, thank you. Now, I assume we have a game plan so... anyone?"

Andrea is the first one to raise his hand, "Ah, yes, here's ze zing. In out moments before flipping ze fuck out, we decided zar me and Stefan are going to advance on ze Swamp Cave for ze Artifact of ze Immune. Katlyn is going wiz Alessandra to for ze Artifact of ze Pack. Like we decided before, you are going to do ze Pack. It is very near your base and ze cave is ze simplest and safest for a beginner."

"Alright," I respond, "we have a plan. When do I get started?"

"Actually," Katlyn interrupted raising her hand a little, "personally, I think it would be better if you wait a little before going into the cave. You see, you are way more beginner than you think you are. I mean, we've been here for a number of years and we were nowhere near close enough to take on The Broodmother! So, here's your plan for now. You will build up and get resources, dinos, levels, all that good shit. Mean while, all of us will take care of our Artifacts and caves and stuff. Good?"

I hate to admit it, but this actually seems like a decent idea. I mean, I only got us through because I remembered something from a fucking Syfy movie. I can't pull that shit all the time. I reluctantly decide to agree. "Alright Katlyn, if you think that's the best thing to do. I will do that. You are honestly the one I trust the most around here," I look around and raise my hands apologetically, "No offense to any of you, it's just she was the first one to warn me about Miss Maniac over there and offered to help the most. Kind of just a... yeah, sorry if that sounded rude."

Everyone sort of just shrugs that off and stands up. Alessandra starts leaving, followed by Andre, Katlyn, Stefan and then me. I didn't know what was going on but I am deciding to go along with it. We all follow Andre to a ramp near the center of the base. Although, something about this ramp didn't seem right at first, and then I noticed that it was moving a little! Not all that much, but still enough to be noticeable. We all make our ways to the top and see that it is outfitted with furniture and contraptions similarly to the inside of the base. I take a seat near the front before looking over and finally seeing what was making this platform move. We were on top of a creature! Some type of giant bird thing. I am about to ask something before Andre climbs over the fence near the head and sits on some kind of saddle thing. Apparently, this was a flying, mobile base. Fuck, I am envious of these guys.

Andre sits and picks up the harness before giving it hard whipping, making the giant bird flap it's wings and lift us off. He turns the bird towards the direction of the Red Obelisk and starts us there. I look over and down to the ground, watching as the snow covered mountain turns into a beautiful pure white landscape, sprinkled only with a few small groups of furry animals. I look up and around, taking in a different view of The Island. Right now, I can see everything perfectly from shore to shore. I've said this before, but The Island is beyond an eye full. Taking a second to look, I notice something strange. Off in the distance, underneath the Green Obelisk, was a building. Part of me was wondering if that was some other survivors.

I lean over to Katlyn and tap her should, getting her attention, "Hey, Katlyn?" I point towards the Obelisk. "What's that over there?"

She looks up and noticeably grows an upset expression. "Oh, that. That is the base of one our... former Tribe members. Her name was Carol, I think."

"Oh, sorry to hear that. What happened?"

"It was my first cave exploration. There was some kind of explosion that happened at the cave mouth and... we haven't been back since. It doesn't matter though, she was over run by Araneos. No way we could save her. It was back in the Cave of the... Pack, I think?"

* * *

The hallway is always so bland and boring. Sheer metal walls and ceiling, a dumb blue glow emitting from the floor, and the unnecessary hologram of Earth. The agent has worked here for years and yet he never gotten used to it. But, he didn't sign up to judge the stupid sci-fi architecture. He signed up for this. On the side of the hall was the screen that showed the Cavern. It took a lot longer than any of the agents thought it would. But now after nearly three years, the first Ultimate Lifeform was defeated. A shame to be honest, as the Broodmother was his favorite out of the four. But, it showed progress. Although the way the Mother was defeated was a tad bit strange. That test subject has a very strange train of thinking.

As the agent admires the defeated Lifeform, he is met by a hand on his back. He quickly turns around and stands straight up at attention seeing it was his supervisor, Agent 23. "Number 47," she says waving her hand down the hallway, leading 47 to the end, "I've noticed that your team is slacking in results. Care to explain?"

"Oh, y-yes Ma'am, of course," he says, pulling out a small glass tablet which quickly flashed with text, "it seems Subject Number Zero-Zero-Zero-Eight-Four-One-Seven, the one that goes by Alessandra, had hindered the growth and strength of The Island test."

"And why is that?"

"Um, s-she seems to have a bit more of a... superiority complex than the other subjects. So much so, that she refuses to have competitors leading to a very quick and brutal murder near instantly as they are sent in." The Agent explains, looking to his higher-up a little nervous. "In fact, of the two hundred and eighty subjects, right now only six are alive."

"Six you say?" she asks, looking down at him before to another screen on the wall. "I only see five right now."

47 turns around to see of the group that calls themselves The Mountaineers, with four of them riding on the back of a Quetz mobile base. He quickly goes back to the tablet and brings up a number of profiles. "Y-yes, well, the signals coming from the Implants are sending us an additional heartbeat. We've tried to track it, but somehow it's beyond our reach. As though it's in a cave, even though the program makes it impossible for-" he is cut off by the superior raising her hand and stopping at the halls end.

"Impossible for anyone to survive there for more than three days, yes I know. I was one of the lead programmers on that extension. How, exactly, can we not get a read on them? Everything on The Island is monitored!" She started to raise her voice.

"Ah, uh, yes, well... the thing there is, that the cave has, sort of... collapsed in on itself," he was a little quieter with that last part, raising the tablet between his face and Agent 23. "And, if our holograms of possible endings are correct, this means this Ark experiment is dead."

23 simply looks at the table in front of her, pressing a small button on the end. This causes a large hologram of a sleeping Giganotosaurus with several scars and bullets wounds to appear. The Agent simply smirks and turns to 47. "If that's the case, I see nothing wrong with a slight increase in hostility." She moves her finger up to a small slider and ups it to nearly full and pressing a button with the word 'Engage' on it. As soon as she does, the hologram wakes up and stands slowly. The hologram then shakes with a gigantic roar before cutting out. "A little fun before the extermination protocol comes into play. How is the first asteroid test coming along?"

"Well, the programmer said that as of right now with this being a test... roughly a month in experiment time."

"Oh. Well, pardon my unprofessionalism, but fuck. That's quite a while. I was hoping for the _kaboom_ to come sooner. Whatever. Before I leave, may I ask something? What cave was the collapse in? We are going to have to fix that."

"Ah, the cave was..." he pulls up the tablet again, "The Cavern of the Pack. And it was more of an explosion than a natural collapse."

* * *

 _A/n: So, the day's almost here. Official trailer came out and now i have to rearrange my story slightly, so expect minor retcons. Sorry 'bout that_


	23. Chapter 23: Basis Ruber

We rode on the giant bird, a Quetzal and Katlyn named it, for roughly an hour before we start to descend into an absolutely colossal base around the Red Obelisk. During this time, I decided to take a mini trip down memory lane and turned on my Walkman. And like anyone would with this, I start it from the beginning. Just like I remember it, the first song is good old Believer by Imagine Dragons. I thought the landing would be pleasant, but I was proven wrong when I am almost thrown out of my chair. Funny thing is, the landing isn't what knocked me down. It was Alessandra who was putting her ear uncomfortably close to mine. I try to force her off but instead she takes the headphones and puts them on herself.

She looks down at me with a weird face of pure awe. "Greggory. Who is this? They sound familiar, but I don't know this song."

"Uh... it's Imagine Dragons. This is their song Believer. It came out in 2016 I think?"

"Holy shit, I knew I remembered the sounds of this!" She exclaims throwing her hands up in the air in a victorious manner. The holds onto the music player and keeps listening, turning it around and looking at it. She laughs a little bit. "But, seriously? A Walkman?"

"We were poor and it was the only thing my mom gave me! Shut up!"

"Oh, fine. I'll cut it out for now." She nods her head a little to the music before raising an eyebrow at my sticker of Luna. "So... you a Lunar Republic person?" Confused at how she knew what that was, I simply nod. Alessandra grinned a little and lifted the bottom edge of her armor top and lowering the leggings a little. What I saw made me chuckle a little with annoyance. It was a tattoo of the Solar Empire symbol, right there on her hip with the words 'For a Brighter Future' underneath it.

I hide a chuckle and shake my head at the ground. "Damn, Alessandra, and here I thought I was starting to like you as a person." Hearing this, she laughs and puts her armor back in place. I couldn't help it, I laughed too. I walk over and pat her on the back, getting a much harder pat in return. "Naw, you... you're cool. I will admit, you're cool. But, hey, there is one thing that can prove who you really are." She looks up, still with a tear of laughter in her eye. "Chrysalis. Yes or no?"

She gives me a pissed off glare before standing up again. With a firm look in the eyes, she simply says as straight faced as possible, "No villain beats Trixie. Fuck that bug bitch."

Now, I have a choice here. I could either tell her that Trixie isn't a villain anymore or... "Ok, to each their own. I prefer Chrysalis but, hey, Trixie is pretty cool too."

At this point in the conversation, The Quetz finally lands dead center in the base. I could hear Katlyn and Stefan let out sighs of relief. For some reason, I don't think they were very into this whole conversation. I guess that was the que for our talk to be over with, considering that Alessandra quickly took off the headphones and handed them back to me. I quickly put it into my inventory again before walking down the ramp with Blue on my shoulders with Thief, Hiccup and Oilslick by my side. With a look around, I could definitely tell this is a base Alessandra would build.

First off the walls were extremely high, past the top of the behemoth of a gateway at the front of the base. On the tops of the walls in even intervals were a number of platforms that each held what I could only assume were gun turrets. Well, most of them were. On the platforms closest to the gateway were two catapults on each side with ladders going all the way up. Now, to the inside of the walls. There were several lines of creatures dinosaur and mammal alike. The most prominent appeared to be Carnotaurus and Raptors. In the corner was the T-Rex, Behemoth, that was pretty much the staple for Alessandra. Wait, nope, there were the rest of the wolves beneath him. Those are more Alessandra. To the other side, I saw a number of horses eating at a trough with some of those hog things.

The biggest things were three large bird-like creatures, I think they were called Therizinosaurus. The second biggest were in the water below us. I could see a number of sea creatures; at least five giant sharks, a couple of Plesiosaurs, on of which that had a platform on it, some giant fish with helmet like heads, and a whole lot of manta ray looking things. This woman was very well stockpiled on animals. Stockpiled with weapons as well, seeing that she has a smaller building inside with the word ' _Armeria_ ' or 'Armory' in english. It was needless to say I was in awe of the scene. Alessandra stepped next to me and chuckled. "Quite a sight, ain't she?" she asked, bringing her wolves to the line with the rest.

It takes me a second, but I finally shake my head to answer, "Damn right it is. I mean... how fucking long have you been here to make this place?"

I look over to her to find her looking down to the floor, hiding her face some. "I... ten years. Ten fucking years is how long it's been. Now shut up, we have shit to do."

"Oh, uh..." well, I feel awkward right now. I think I might have crossed a line. "Did, uh, did I say something?"

Alessandra sighs and rubs the bridge of her nose, "Ugh... yeah, you did. Not even going to beat around the bush, you brought up something I don't really care about talking about." Holy shit. I have to give props to this woman, she is straight to the point with shit. "Now, if we are done with this stupid bullshit about my time being on this asshole of an island, I have some shit for you. Both shit to give and to do."

She starts walking to the armory and enters it, not even caring to wait for me. I quickly rush inside to find a surprisingly well managed storage system. The large chests were put into four rows with five in each of them. They were all labeled and even color coded. The four colors were red, blue, green and yellow. On the first closet in each row were labeled 'Guns', 'Ammo', 'Tools', and 'Hand Weapons'. Alessandra goes to each one and takes a few things out of them. She returns and hands me a number of deadly looking itens. There were two guns, a crossbow and shotgun, a hella ton of ammo for both, a metal ax and pickax, and a metal spear looking item. Of course I take all three of them and put them into my inventory.

"Alright," Alessandra said stepping around and back out of the building, "do me these three things and we won't have a problem. Number one, don't interrupt me and Katlyn while we are after the Pack Artifact. Number two, get that Clever Artifact fast so we can get of this fucker sooner. And number four... no, wait, three. Number three, get more creatures. You are not going to be protected with a fucking Hyenadon and Arthropleura. Understood? Good." She really did not take any time ordering me around. It only took, what, almost a week? Holy shit, it's only been five days on this island. Feels more like six months. Whatever, it still feels way too quick to start bossing me around.

Not gonna lie, I knew the words she was saying, but I really kinda just wanted to do my own thing. I know that sounds selfish, but they said I have to take my time. I wasn't even planning to contact them later. And I was already planning to tame shit and get the Artifact thing. I couldn't tell if she thought I was an idiot and forgot what I was doing, or just likes telling people what to do. Heh, that reminds me of that Futurama 'Not Sure If..." meme. Oh my god, I don't have any fucking memes! Ok, my shit is put into overdrive now. I need my memes. Wait, holy shit, where'd she go?

* * *

The Agent was taking notes on the progress on the Island test before hearing a loud siren come from the holographic table. This is a normal thing, ARK's have problems all the time, but he has to check because that's how he doesn't get blown into space. 47 rolls his chair over to the opposite side of the room to check in on the situation but becomes instantly confused and concerned at what he was reading. Instinctively, he presses a button on his tablet to call a supervisor. "Miss 23! We have a situation, I request your presence in observation room seven immediately."

There is a few seconds of silence before the tablet lets out a familiar voice. "Number 43, this is Agent 23. What is the situation?"

"I-uh-it's a code... I don't think this even has a name! Please, come into observation room seven!" This was a terrible thing to do, but it was needed. He has never seen a problem like this before.

After a few moments of silence, the door in the back of the room opens loudly. The Agent walks up besides 43 and looks at the table. "Ok 43, tell me what's so damn impor... 43, what the hell is this?" She pointed down to the table. Specifically, the notice of an ARK's sudden and strong condition change.

"I-I-I, don't know, Ma'am. I've never seen this before. I don't mean to be rude, but you're the supervisor here! What does... 'External Field Protector Two Crash' even mean?"

"I... just because I am a supervisor does not mean I know all of our codes." She takes a second to think before pushing the Agent out of the way. She types in a code before bringing up a hologram of an ARK that was... it was nearly destroyed. On of the three artificial atmosphere generators were destroyed and an Obelisk was crashed onto the land and tilting to the side. "I... what ARK is this?"

"It's... ARK Number Four-Seven-Nine-Two-Zero-One. The Aberration project. It seems that it... collapsed into itself, Ma'am. The scanners show that there are still several living survivors on it, though. Should I... initiate the apocolypse program?"

Agent 23 thinks for a second before grinning. "No. No, I wish to see how long that can go on for." She pats 43 on the shoulder before turning around and leaving again. "I want you to keep an eye on The Island test as well as The Aberration test. Call me if there are any changes."

"Y-yes Ma'am!" 43 rolls his chair around and starts taking a few more notes. Just before he can though, he turns around one more time. "Um, Agent 43? One more question, I'm sorry. Have you felt like... just, in the past few days, something got a little more... full? Or, released or something? Like, a full release I think would be a better word I guess?"

"23. You need to take a break, I swear. That is completely stupid."


	24. Chapter 24: Somnium

"Alright idiotas," Alessandra starts when I get back outside, "this dipshit is already to go. Katlyn, get some shit, we're going south. You two," she points to André and Stefan, "take big bird here and go back to the snow. And Greggory," she points back to me, "go do your shit and get the Clever Artifact and don't interrupt us. Everyone good?" She stops and looks around, gathering all of the collective 'yeahs' before nodding. "Good. André, I'm taking control of your Tribe for the time being. Lupo!" She finishes with a shout to her wolf which comes bounding to her side, stopping at her feet. "Good. Katlyn, let's go, I already grabbed enough shit for both of us."

Katlyn nods and pulls out her shotgun. "Ready whenever you are boss. Greggory, don't die. You two, good luck!" She gives all of us a wave and the trio begin their way out. Almost to the giant gate, Alessandra stops and turns to the brit. I can't make out what she said, but Katlyn perked up and started full on sprinting to Behemoth, climbing up and riding him. She throws up her arms in obvious celebration and guides all of them outside, heading down the stone beach towards the Green Obelisk in the distance.

I turn to the other two and rubbed my shoulders a little confused and slightly worried. "So, uh… it cool if I hitch a ride with you guys? It's a long walk back to my base and I ain't got a saddle or anything that can even use a saddle and I just… yeah." They nod and we all climb back onto the platform saddle. Roughly fifteen minutes after taking flight we land back at my small wooden base which is kind of lackluster compared to the other bases I've seen today. I start walking down the ramp and turn the two men. "Thanks again Stefan. Andre. I'll get y'all that Artifact as soon as possible!" I give a small salute and turn back around, whistling at my creatures to follow.

The two and their Quetzal fly of back towards the snowy landscape again. Maybe the last time I'll see them for a bit I bet. But now, I actually have shit in which to do and a time period in which to do it in! But what to do, what to do? Do I tame things? Hone my skills? Build my base? Just go straight for the Artifact? I believe I may know the answer. I walk over and enter my base, closing the door and falling face first into my bed and take a nap.

Time for another trippy ass dream sequence. Once again, I was floating in a strange glowing room. I look around to try and find anything different but am at a loss. I still can't move either, so I am just left floating here. That's when I hear those voices again, but not just the voices. There was some kind of… echo, almost like footsteps on metal? I can't focus very well but make out a little of the conversation.

"Specimens… attempting to… the… Pack… Greggory is delving into… of The Clever." At this point, the voices got louder and clearer. It was still foggy though.

Now, a new voice started speaking. "Miss… apocalypse program… 27 days remaining… complete wipeout." Apocalypse program? Please tell me that doesn't mean what I think it does. "Everything dead and… rebuilding begins one… later, starting ARK test… Eight-Nine-Four-Seven… Ragnarok layout." Ragnarok? Isn't that the name of the new Thor movie? Wait, holy shit. I'm going to miss Thor and Infinity War! No… no, I will not allow that to happen. I will get off this fucker.

In my moment of mild angry annoyance, the footsteps start again and the talking starts to fade. Along with the voices, the bright room itself seemed to grow dim. Replacing the sight of the room was a scene in a cave. It was a tight cave, the distance between walls being as long as I am tall, only about five and a half feet. God I am short.

With a little look around I see nothing of much note. A few of those small crystal spire things from the top of the volcano and some shing metal rocks. Without my control, I start moving lower into the cavern, eventually coming up into an area with water and fairly more open space. That's when I saw something actually down here. It was a small bug looking thing, kind of like a beetle I want to say. Past that was another bug. A much bigger, much more familiar bug. If I am to be specific, it was an Arthropleura. About four of them that were simply sitting at the base of the water opposite of me.

Beyond those were some extremely large snakes. These ones I remember being called Titanoboas. Looks a lot smaller than the skeleton I saw at the museum. Still bigger than me though. Next was some huge scorpions and spider things, Araneos I think? Thought for sure those would have died off killing The Broodmother. That's how bugs work, right? Kill the queen the whole hive dies. Wait, no… spiders aren't bugs. Spiders are a whole different thing altogether. And a pretty cool looking thing too. Wonder if taming one of those is possible.

While I am think this, my dream self walks back into the cave and takes a right, going around the water. I wonder around the path before coming out right in front of a small land bridge in between two small bits of water. In the middle of the bridge was another one of those floating pyramid things. I dream walk onto the bridge and start going towards the crate. Right before I am able to open it, a large splash sounds right behind me. I turn and am met nearly five feet away from another large crocodile. I didn't remember what it was at the Broodmother fight, but seeing it this close I can recall it. It was called a Sarcosuchus. Perfect amphibious killing machine. It charges, and I jerk awake. I don't know how long I was out, but it was dead dark outside. I stand up and open a window to get a better look, only to be met with three pairs of bright orange eyes running around in the fields. Nope, back to bed.

* * *

Several hours earlier, the pair of Alessandra and Katlyn has arrived at the base of what used to be The Cave of the Pack, now known as La Caverna di Katlyn by Alessandra. A name quite fitting, considering the condition of said cave. The cliff above it was sunken in at least ten feet, filling in the entrance with stone and dirt. There was several bushes and vines growing out of the cracks due to years of neglect. And to top it all of, at the bottom of the stone enclosure was the skeleton of a Megalosaurus, most still intact. Katlyn hops off and climbs down Behemoth to stand next to Alessandra and her wolf.

The two women look at each other before Alessandra gives a little nod. Katlyn smirks and opens uo her implant, pulling out a number of C4 explosives. "Oh, how I have missed an excuse to blow something up. Pack, here we come!" She plants the explosives at three points; two at the base and two on each side. She takes out the detonator and brings everyone back to a fairly safe distance away. "Alright, and in three… two… one!" She presses the button and the entire side of the eruptions in fire and raining rock.

After nearly ten minutes all the dust and dirt settles, showing the long forgotten opening to the cave system. Alessandra whistles up to her Rex to stay put and on aggressive before jumping on Lupo and starts towards the cave. The trio enter weapons drawn and senses heightened before descending into the depths.

Alessandra is more than unnerved by the lack of danger, getting more and more tense every safe turn they make. "I don't like this," she says looking down the right side of a fork in the cave, "It's too quiet and there hasn't even been a Dung Beetle or Onyc since we came here. Something isn't right." She turns Lupo and goes down the left path, watching Katlyn walk in front of them with a torch.

"Oh, calm down Aless," she replied, "I get it, you're always on edge. That's your gimmick or something. But you have to learn that, just maybe, nothing happening is a sign or good tidi-" Katlyn is cut off by a faint clicking sound and large needle shooting into her neck. She barely has time to react before rolling her eyes into her head and falling onto the ground.

Alessandra quickly jumped into action, hopping off Lupo and taking her assault rifle out and ready to fire. She and the Dire Wolf scan the area quietly, coming up with nothing for a full five minutes. Eventually, the woman starts to walk towards the fallen Mountaineer. As she does, she is met with a thick webbing quickly covering her making movement impossible. She tries to call to Lupo but finds the exact same has happened to him, with three Araneos crawling up to them.

Alessandra struggles and eventually pulls an arm free and begins ripping the rest of the web off. She aims up her gun and puts her finger on the trigger. But before she can fire, she hears the faint _puff_ of a rifle shooting a tranquilizer before feeling a sharp sting in her jugular. She tries to pull it out but already feels herself going numb. She attempts to fight it but slowly starts to fade, falling to a knee and using the gun to hold herself up. She looked up and faintly saw Lupo also fall to a tranq dart.

Alessandra looked to where the darts were coming from and barely made out a figure walking towards them. It was a female obviously, wearing full ghillie armor with a pair of night vision goggles and tapping the floor with her rifle's tip. The woman stopped when she hit Alessandra in the leg with the barrel and kneeled down. "Well lookie here," the stranger said, sounding extremely muffled to Alessandra's slipping consciousness. She could make one thing out though, this person was extremely American southern. "Looks like I got me some foxes in the hen house. Can't have that, now can we?" She laughs and taps Alessandra on the head, finally knocking her out. "Nighty night, little fox."


	25. Chapter 25: Castorea

So, as far as sleep goes, after my strange and possibly plot-driving nap, the rest of the night went pretty smoothly. The morning, on the other hand, is annoying to say the least. I was groggy, so… yeah, waking up was a bitch. Along with that, there was little scratching sounds right on the other side of my wall, so I have to take care of that before it completely tears it down. Ugh, this is why I need to get home quick. A proper bed and no stupid scratches beside my Shih Tzu. I wonder if there are prehistoric Shih Tzus on The Island? Naw, that's stupid. What's also stupid? The scratching. Guess that's my alarm now. I open my Implant and take out my pistol and properly reload it. Have to thank Alessandra for giving me extra magazines.

With a little whistle, I get Thief's attention and toss him on my shoulders. Never know when you have to throw a bloodthirsty bird-lizard-thing in the face of an enemy. I open the door and step out, whistling to Oilslick and Hiccup. All four of us slowly round the side of my base where the scratches are coming from. And lean over and aim my gun, only to see two very familiar Dilos. A red one with only one arm and a green one with both. They both look over at me and hiss before turning tail and running off, like they were expecting me. Were… were they trying to annoy me into waking up? If so, they're assholes. Very intelligent assholes, buts still assholes. I think I'll give them one more freebie. I did cut one's arm off. They didn't really do any damage, just some little scratch marks here and there. Little varnish and it'll look good as new! What am I saying, nothing can make this shack look good.

Although, I bet I could add onto it so it does look good! Because I'm definitely a carpenter. Holy hell, what I want to build will take a lot of resources I don't have, nor have the patience to collect enough of… That reminds me of something I think Alessandra said. Certain creatures can help collect more resources. Now, what would I need for wood? A beaver, I guess. Is there a prehistoric beaver? Well, if Madonna is on The Island, more than definitely. Oh my god, did I seriously just make a Madonna joke? What is this, 2014?

Whatever. Ancient beavers. Where would I find prehistoric beavers on this Island? I assume near some form of waterways, perhaps a pond. Ok, beavers first, then wood, the base upgrade. I know what I'm doing, definitely. Now, how to find a pond that would house beavers? Actually, wait, there were giant beavers. They had a name, what was it? Sounded like some kind of STD? A Castoroide? Yeah, that's it. Gotta find me a Castoroid. Now, the closest location I can think of that has water and would be a good home for a mammal would be… the Redwoods! Oh, Gregg, you are a genius.

I keep my gun drawn and start in the general direction I recall the giant forest being. I keep everyone behind and start a very light running, not really wanting to waste any time with this. Pumping all those levels into stamina really was a good idea, because I am at the very foot of the Redwoods before the bar actually runs out. A little rest never killed anyone out here. Definitely not.

I look around as I wait and take note of the area and dangers. Big deer thing, big bear thing, giant sloth creature, bunch of Trikes… seems pretty ok for the moment. That sloth thing looks pretty badass to be honest. What do I need for one those? I'll ask Andre later. Along with all of that, I look up to see what looks like a beehive? A giant beehive at that. I mean, bigger than my entire body big. Then again, I am one short motherfucker. But giant bees. That is both fascinating and terrifying. Love those little insects, but I don't want to see one who's stinger is bigger than mine. That's a double entendres.

Enough dirty jokes, time for action. I make sure that everyone is behind me and… what? Why the hell is Blue here? I didn't tell this Otter to follow me! Or, wait, did I? Not important. This place is not somewhere for an Otter to be around. But I also can't let him just sit out here. Maybe I can let him wander around and he'll run if he gets in trouble. Great idea me. I think of the right tune and kneel down, whistling and letting Blue run around a little. I watch a little and start to leave when he jumps into the river. He's an Otter, they like to swim.

I wander into the forest and start in some random direction. The farther I go in the more diverse of creatures there are. Large kind of camel looking animals, a whole lot of Carnos, giant snakes, and on occasion smaller Bronto looking animals. A rather nice collection of prehistoric monsters that aren't afraid to rip my face off and tear out my intestines. This is a fun adventure. After about twenty minutes of non-events happening, aside a few Compy trying to bite my ankles, I start to think about just calling it quits. As soon as I turn, I notice a river far on my right. Now how in the shit did I miss that? I quickly rush over and start to follow, keeping an eye open for any beaver dams, or beavers in general.

I keep down the river until I come across a fairly steep waterfall with no sign of beaver nor dam. Damn. There wasn't even a proper hill to climb down to the river. Hell. Ok, I guess turning around is the only option to do now. I turn back only to be met face-to-face with a large, fuzzy-faced rodent with huge buck teeth. A beaver! What a very convenient deus ex machina for me. And considering this place is similar to a simulation, that is a very accurate phrase. Now, how to tame this beautiful tan and white beast? Are beavers herbivores? I feel like if they were anything it'd be a herbivore. I very dislike how many times I just said vore.

But first I have to knock the bitch out. Once again, I must thank Alessandra for gifting upon me a Longneck Rifle and a figurative shitton of Tranq Darts. Wow, that's a 2X deus ex machina combo in the same day. I open up my Implant and replace my pistol with the rifle and arm it with tranquilizers. Strange how calm this thing is while I'm in the middle of putting the barrel literally in between his eyes. That's when I finally notice something I missed before. He had some kind of saddle on. Now I'm at least twenty percent more interested.

I lower my gun and step forward to it, only to be met with a red name floating over it, similar to the green over my tamed creatures.

Woody Allen - Level 163: Owner - Unclaimed

Holy hell, this things level is higher than Colorado! Unclaimed, what does that mean? As per usual, I go to my Specimen Implant to find any information or if a special screen comes up. Surprisingly, the former of the two happens. It's a small circular screen sectioned off into four parts, with only one of them having anything in them. It simply read "Claim Woody Allen". I hovered up and over the section and watched it fill up before dinging. I pulled down my arm and see the red text has turned into green. It's like a freaking deus ex mach-trifecta in this piece!

But it does get me thinking about something. Why in the hell is this guy all the way out here? I guess the only way to know is to ask, right? "Hey there, big guy. What brings you all the way out here?" Woody just gives me a little chittering sound and looks behind him. "Well, where did you come from at least?" I didn't think he'd respond, but he jumps a little and turns around, walking back towards the Redwoods. Not gonna lie, I am interested.

We wander in the forest for a number of minutes until he stops. Confused, I look around to see why he brought me out here. Then I notice a little something on a tree. It was a claw mark, at least twice my size, going up the tree. I follow it up until I see what I am certain is a destroyed tree-top town. There were the remains of at least seven tree platform like things. Some were snapped in have, some were nothing more than just metal and a few splinters sticking out of the trees. This… can only be the work of one thing. Well, maybe two. Either that Giga was through here, or someone pissed off Alessandra. But with the giant claw marks, it was most likely Mister Giga.

I walk around to see if Ican find anything and am met with a rope ladder coming off of one of the more intact platforms. Against my better judgement, I climb up. At the top, the only things I can see is a partially broken bed, a few storage containers, and a giant map just like in The Mountaineers base. Well, the only place to look is the chest. I walk over and open my Implant. Let's see here… wood, can always use that. Metal, very useful. Rare Flowers? Guess I can use those for something. Allosaurus Kibble? Oh damn, the spoil timer is very low. Like, if it wasn't for being a very large stack, it'll all be gone in like twenty seconds. There is one thing I am very, very interested in. It was a saddle. And what was the name of this saddle? The Giganotosaurus saddle.

I take out everything before spotting a note I missed. I take out everything and grab the note and start reading. What is written gives me a very excited feeling. This note is blueprints. Blueprints to armor and weapons made out of a very specific material. Specifically, Tek Element, of which we took off of The Broodmother. I like what I am reading. I like it very, very much. And my enjoyment only grows when I flip the note over and see a much larger blueprint. This one being more detailed and extravagant. It was plans for, what these people decided to call, a Tek T-Rex saddle. It apparently has lasers, and I want twenty of them.


	26. Chapter 26: Maxime Parte Est

Ok, so, I got myself a lot of resources for free, blueprints for the most badass armor and saddle possible, and a saddle for the biggest monstrosity on The Island. And it's not even ten o'clock! I love my luck. I say after having and complaining about the shittiest luck for the past two days. Hey, at least I didn't have as bad of luck as these guys. They got their entire tree base destroyed. Now that is some shit luck. But I do want to know more about how used to live here. Hmm, Stefan and Andre are all the way in the mountains and the ladies are in a cave where I don't know where it is… Alessandra did give me a radio, but she said it was for emergencies only. Would this classify as an emergency? I mean, it was at a point of emergency at one point so…

I take out my handy dandy radio and turn the knob a little bit. At this point I realize Alessandra didn't give me a frequency to find her at so I guess it's guess work for the time being! I keep turning until the static finally passes, only pass it because I'm slow, and turn back to it. I have no idea who this is going to be, so I just press the button and talk. "Hey, Alessandra? Over." You have to say over, it's a rule.

I wait a few seconds before noise finally comes through the other end. "Greggory? Is zat you?" Oh, it's Andre! I guess he has one of these things too.

"Yeah, it's me. I found something in the Redwoods and I feel as though I need some context. Over."

"Well, for me to tell you ze context i also need some context. What did you find?"

I look around and think on the proper way to explain it. "Uh, well, some kind of… tree town? But it's destroyed and there are some wandering dinos. I got a beaver from it. Over."

"Oh, you got Woody Allen?" How the hell does he know about the beaver? "He's been out zere for monzs, I zought he'd never get claimed. Hey Stefan! Ze new guy got Woody! Yeah, ze Castoroides."

"Is Stefan there? Over."

"Yeah, getting zings ready for ze cave."

"Cool. Wait a second, I got way off track. I was wondering if you could tell me more about this tree town place?" I start climbing the ladder back down to the ground, being met with my little group of animals. "Because it looks like some serious shit went down here. Over."

"Oh yeah, zat was a shot show. Zey called zemselves ze Tree Huggers. Zey zought being high in ze trees would keep zem safe. Zey were wrong."

"Yeah, obviously." I hop onto the beaver and start out the direction I started wandering in here from. "Dude, these guys got fucked up. I think there's even a Giga scratch on a tree. Over."

"Yes, ze old beast is what took zem out. Huge battle, much bloodshed, I'm pretty sure Alessandra came herself from ze carnage. It was strangely beautiful."

I nearly threw up hearing that last part. "Ok, didn't need to know that." I suddenly remembered the saddle I pulled from the storage box. "Hey, I was looting some of their stuff and I found something a little interesting. Over."

"What was it?"

"It's a saddle. Really huge, really heavy as hell saddle for the Giganotosaurus. These idiots were thinking about taming that thing! Over."

"Wait, do you actually have a saddle for it? Like, on your inventory, at zis moment?"

"Uh, yeah. Why? Over."

The radio goes quiet for a few seconds before he speaks again. "Gregg, we will talk to you later." With that, the radio goes back to static and I am once again alone with my thoughts. Well, thoughts and giant beaver, centipede, hyena, bird-lizard thing and an otter. Wait a second, where the fuck is my Otter? Oh, yeah. He's at the river. I need to keep better tabs on my a tames. Speaking of… I should do a roll call.

"Oilslick?" The Arthropleura makes its normal clicking noise. "Thief?" The Pego on my shoulder makes his little chirps. "Hiccup?" Hyaenodon does a weird little laugh-bark noise. "Alright, and Woody Allen I am riding on top of. Just gotta swing by the river on the way back and get Ol' Blue and we'll be right as rain!" Almost as soon as I say this, the sky thunders and begins to pour. Lovely, just what I needed today.

With my tiny band, I return to the river and follow it back up to whence I originally started. Fun little turnabout I must say. Now, where is that blue-striped fuzz butt? I give the usual 'here' whistle and, just as I thought, Blue comes running out of the river and up to my feet. He holds up some shiny rock things to me, causing me to get curious. I kneel down and up his inventory to find a number of things. Some normal raw fish, rotten meat… fish meat must spoil faster. The next two slots confuses me. There are small stacks of white rocks called Silica Pearls, and small black rocks called Black Pearls. Cool, and it would be cooler if I knew just what they were used for. I should make a list of everything I don't know about this Island. It'll probably end up being bigger than a normal book.

I pat the little guy on the head and start walking back towards my wooden shack, which won't be a little shack for long. Because I got a beaver. For once, my plans actually went out just as I planned them to, and the only off thing that happened was I stumbled upon a convenient plot device and badass saddle, along with blueprints for Tek Armor. Probably should have brought that part up with the guys with all the Tek Elements, but whatever. Conversation for when everyone is together. Hell, when will be the next time we get together? I mean, everyone's taking care of their Artifact things and here I am. Wondering a forest on beaver back. What if we only ever meet for the bosses and once we get out of here we never try to find each other again? Holy shit I am depressing. Also extremely overdramatic, I just met these people. Then again, multiple near death experiences tend to make quick yet also close bonds. I over think things.

After a few minutes, I walk back into my field filled with wild dinos and a very terrible shack. A small walk into the field and I am met at my door where I hop off Woody and look to everyone. I think before giving a series of whistles, making all except Woody Allen and Oilslick stay at the base. Gotta have some protection while I'm committing semi-mass deforestation! That's how Americans get away with it. Now we Canadians? We got nothing but wilderness for thousands of kilometers, so we can get away with that shit. On my beaver I walk back towards to the forest and up to the biggest tree I can find. Now, I'm not sure on how to make this guy attack or gather or whatever so…

I just walk up to the tree in hopes Woody Allen would know what to do. Just as I didn't exactly thought, he starts attacking it, causing several pieces of wood and thatch to fly off, a whole lot more than I could get with an ax. I think I would have to jump off and pick it all up, but then something interesting happens. The wood stops in midair and floats into the beavers head and shrinks, just like it does with my Implant. Interested, I lean up and dig a little into his fur until I hit something… hard. I part the fuzz and find a very small Specimen Implant in his head! Ok, now I'm invested in this. I raise up my own Implant and am brought to the dinos inventory screen. And hell did it have a full inventory!

First off, everything was neatly organized with all stacks grouped together before changing to a different set of resources. Have to learn how to do that. Second, there were a lot of greyed out pictures of things like saddles, tools and armor, some which even had green or blue undertones. Finally, there was even two different sets of armor at the bottom! One Chitin armor set and one… Flak? I guess that's metal. Dumb name for metal armor, just call it metal armor. But, I am not one to complain. I now have major gains from finding this guy. Is this cheating? It feels like cheating.

Now with a full inventory of wood, fiber, thatch, pretty much everything I need, I return to my base and look it over. After a second I take out all the materials I need and set them on the ground. "Oh yeah. I actually know what I'm doing for once."

* * *

The Brit groans as she somehow starts to wake up, trying to look around. She was in pitch black and it was cold, almost like… like a cave. She wasn't dreaming, someone had knocked her out. But who? That's when she heard a faint tap from behind her.

"Well, it seems like ya finally woke up. 'Bout time too, the chickens been cryin' for an hour." Oh, Katlyn remembers that voice. That thick country accent. "Now, which one 'ah y'all was it?" Carol says as the tapping gets closer to the Brit.

"H-holy shit… Carol?" Katlyn asks, automatically filled with fear and concern. She thought the Texas hick was dead, but now…

"Hoo boy, if it isn't 'lil Miss Katlyn! I am gon' have me a hella lot a fun with you." The forgotten survivor laughs and turns around, tapping the ground with the tip of her rifle as she walks away. "Yer gon 'regret blowin' that cave entrance up. You and that spaghetti talkin' skank."

Katlyn almost speaks but is cut off from a second groaning somewhere besides her. "Ugh... _l'inferno mi hai chaimato?_ Oh, fuck... Katlyn? You british bitch, what did you do?"

"Well... we kinda got kidnapped by someone I trapped in this cave a few years ago and thought I killed."

"Ah, ok then. Katlyn. I blame you, and anything I do after this is out of my control."

"Hey!" Carol yells from wherever she is, echoing through the entire cavern, "no one touchs that slut but me, ya hear!"


	27. Chapter 27: Maxime Parte Duo

"Alright," I say to myself standing back to admire a decently long day's work, "that's about good enough for today I'd say!" I look my new building and take in my work. I now have two main rooms; a living/construction room and a bedroom, with a little space just for Blue and Thief right next to my bed. I've added a number of windows to let more light in because, gonna be honest, couldn't see shit before. Wouldn't have been able to hit the backside of a Giga. Not that I would try, that is by far the stupidest thing to ever come out of my brain, and I thought America voting Trump was a good idea. Is that in bad taste? What do I care, I'm on an Island with dinosaurs!

I enter my updated base and look around, admiring everything I've done to the interior. Got a nice big table with six chairs, just so everything will be symmetrical, a mortar and pestle, cooking pot, campfire, and a refining forger in the corner! Just need the metal to finish and I'll have myself a nice smithy to make some better tools. But for the time being, I kind of wasted my entire day doing this and it was around sundown. Damn, walking into the forest, finding a beaver, finding a destroyed tribe, and then walking all the way back took up a surprisingly large amount of time. Mix that with the little conversation with Andre about Alessandra and Katlyn.

Speaking of, I haven't heard from either of them all day. I'm pretty sure I've would've gotten word from at least one of them by now. It doesn't take this long to go into a cave and find an Artifact? Almost the exact moment I think this, I hear a static noise come from my radio followed by a voice. "Greggory. It's Stefan. Any news from the vomen?"

"Hey Stefan, it's Gregg. Nothing yet. Over."

"Shit. Somezings wrong here. Zey never go zis long wizout some sort of update."

"I'm sure they're alright. Probably decided to grab a second one before coming back. I bet Alessandra is absolutely dying to get out of here. Over."

"No, zis is strange. Me and Andre are coming to your base. Prepare some space for a meeting."

"I don't get a say in this, do I? Over."

"No. We'll be zere in ten."

With that, he turns off his radio and I am once again met with silence. Holy hell, looks like I'm going to have some last minute company coming over. Good that nuisance still exists on The Island. I look around and try to find things to move around, only to see the only problem is that it's dark as hell because it's so late. A few wall torches couldn't hurt! Luckily, I look into my forge and take out the few metal bars I have and proceed to make a smithy. Now, I can make myself some wall torches! Because that's definitely a great use of metal! Actually, do I need to worry about metal? From what I've gathered, resources replenish themselves everyday and I am extremely close to a huge collection of it… Fuck it, metal everything!

I make the torches and set them up on the walls, lighting them to give the room some proper visibility. Now that some time has passed and everything can be seen, I really want to turn the torches off. And I would have if it wasn't for the sound of a landing bird right outside my house followed by loud knocking. I sigh and go to the door, opening it wide for the two. "Welcome to casa de Greggory! What can I do for ya fellas? Come in, come in!"

"Wow, very… base." Andre says as he starts to walk in, followed by Stefan. "Did you build zis in a day?"

"You know it Frenchy. All thanks to Woody Allen out there."

"Yeah, good find with him by ze way. Never zought I'd see anyone from Ze Treehuggers again."He sighs and goes to the table, pulling out a chair and sitting down. "But zat's for later. Now, we have a problem. Both Alessandra and Katlyn has cut off all contact with us. We are making a plan of advancement on ze cave zey went in."

"Ah. So just a quick in and out? Go to the cave, grab the girls, kill whatever got them, grab the Artifact, done deal! I say we grab a quick sleep and then we get on our way. Bing, bang, boomerang."

This gets a X2 facepalm from the duo, Stefan walking over and hitting his head on the wall. "Zat vas ze vorst zing I have ever heard. It takes more zan just going 'in and out' for ze caves! It takes very careful pla-" He is cut off from all three of our radios staticing to life.

We all take out the devices and set them on the table, waiting for someone to speak. After roughly two minutes of quiet arguing and a few quiet electrical sounds, a woman finally speaks. "Ah, good, fin'ly got through to some'n'! A'ight, to whom am I gettin' the pleasure to talk to right now?" With the voice, both the Mountaineers look at each other in shock and mild fear, me just being confused at country sounding lady.

Eventually, Andre picks it up and talks. "Is… is this Carol?"

"You got it, ya ol' son of a bitch! An' I know fer a fact you're the leader of these two cunts I got down here! Andre was it?" There is a loud thud come from the other side followed by two grunts and a series of swears coming from I can only assume is Alessandra. "Oh, shut up ya bitches! Look, I'm askin' fer some super easy demands, and ya may get these two back in one piece."

"Don't do it, Greggory!" Yells Alessandra, I can only guess, "I can get us out of here! Questo asino a mezzo won't do anything if I have any say in it!" That is followed by another thud and another electronic sound, followed by someone falling down.

"Shut up, ya cunt! Neva' liked ya the first place. Now, what it is I'm wantin'. From what the bitches told me, y'all got a way off this fuckin' Island. Give it to me, an' these two are free."

We all sort of look at each other for a second before I pick up my radio and speak. "Uh, Carol was it? Hi, this is Gregg, new to The Island, don't know your story that well. Listen, uh… you already have one of the things needed to get out of here. Over."

"Bullshit."

"No, no… you see, we found out the Artifacts active the obelisks and those take us to some kind of boss arena where we fight giant beasts and… yeah, that's why we came for the Pack one. Over."

"Still bullshit. Look, I ain't lettin' these two go 'til I'm back in Texas, so… and ya know what? Just because y'all are pullin' my leg with the whole Artifact thing, I'mma kill one of them! That is, unless I'm given the actual key by tomorrow morning."

This definitely gets our attention more. Andre picks up his radio and presses down the button. "Carol, listen to me. We have no quarrel with you. We will gladly take you with us, but if you even hurt one of zem, we will have to kill you in retribution."

This is followed by a loud laugh on the other side. "Retribution? Where the hell is my retribution! I've been stuck in this fuckin' cave for years because of these bitches! I don't care 'bout yer fake promises of escape. Bring me the way out and you get wolf girl and miss boom back. Over and out." With that, all the radios goes to static and we are left alone in the darkness.

We look at each other and give silent nods, all pulling out some sort of weapons and heading outside. Of course, I grab Thief and throw him on my shoulders as we do. Never know when I need to rob someone. That's when I see the bird they came in on. It was a normal Ptera, except it had a large fin on the top and bottom of it's head. I know this one, which is it? A Tapejara! And a noticeable thing about this Tape is that the saddle on it's back had three seats. Perfect. "So," I ask to the two as we mount the flyer, "I take it we're on a rescue mission?"

"No shit, Sherlock," I get answered from Stefan. Didn't think they had that saying in World War II.

"Nice. Always wanted to go on one of these"

* * *

"Number 42, how's The Island going as of now?" The Agent asks as she enters the control room, taking a look at the screen above them. "Is the extermination protocol active yet?"

The Agent jumps in his chair and pushes his glasses back, turning to look at his superior. "W-well, 23, th-the protocol has started but isn't close to destroying the Ark yet. B-but, I feel we may not have to. Please, look at this." Hey motions for 23 to come to a smaller screen, showing a night vision picture of the inside of a cave. "It seems we found the sixth heartbeat I was speaking of. Carol, Specimen Number Zero-Zero-Zero-Five-Eight-Six-One, was trapped in the Cavern of the Pack for… well, for near three in program years."

This takes the supervisor by surprise. "Three years? Impossible! I made very specific codes to make it three days. How could this… no. That's impossible."

"Um, c-could have possibly made it… instead of three says, you did it as three… years?"

"Are you saying I made a mistake?" She glares down the the scientist, quickly making all the color leave his face. "Because I do not make mistakes like that. Don't let me bringing you up here be a mistake I have to take care of." She puts a hand on his shoulder, gripping it hard and making 23 squirm in his seat.

After a few seconds she lets go and turns back towards the exit, starting to leave again. She stops at the doorway and looks back, getting a strange feeling inside. "23. Did you… did you prolong something? Something seems like it should have happened."

"Wh-what? N-no ma'am! Not at all!"

"Hmm, it feels as though something was pushed back. Like some kind of date…"

"WAIT!" 23 screams, turning to his control pad and bringing up a calendar. "The second Truman Show was suppose to air today! I think people were pissed it wasn't Jim Carry again so they were _extremely_ against it. God dammit! I waited three-hundred and forty years for this!"

Agent 42 slaps her face and shakes her head in pure disappointment, thinking through their situation. "23, you are literally making a dinosaur version of The Truman Show! And you're upset over a damn movie?"


	28. Chapter 28: Maxime Parte Tribus

"Ok, I think we can all agree," I start as we fly in the direction of the cave, "we are the slightest bit unprepared for this rescue mission. Not saying anything against it, just a heads up we might get murdered by a crazy cave dwelling most probably blind chick. And she sounds Texan, so that just raises the danger levels. No? Just me? Ok then."

Andre returns with a little scoff as he flies us. "We are never prepared for zis stuff. Honestly, for ze past ten years, zings just sort of happen and I fix zem. Well, me and whoever has been in my tribe at ze time."

"So, basically you because of Aless?" What the fuck did I just call her?

"Yep."

Pretty straightforward answer. We fly for around ten or so minutes before coming to a hovering halt over an indentation of a cliff near the beach. Along with that, is a T-Rex standing out in front of it wearing a saddle. Yeah, that's Alessandra alright. We stay above it for a second before Andre descends us, landing right outside the cave and jumping off and equipping his assault rifle. Looks like we're going with the big guns todays. Stefan does the same and takes out a shotgun. Of course I'm the odd one out having stupidly basic weapons, taking out the pistol I 'accuired' from Alessandra.

"Alright," I say as we approach the entrance to the cave, "what can I expect down there?"

Stefan shrugs. "Long falls, lava pits, giant spiders and scorpions, a ninety percent chance of death. All the fun stuff."

I nod and turn back to the cave, taking a few steps back to make sure the other two go first. "Coolsies… And probably of us surviving Carol?"

"Even less chance. She was a crazy bitch like Alessandra. In all honesty she might've been worse. She's Texan."

Oh dear lord, we're dead fucked aren't we? Texas. Alright, I can't do this. I have to hype myself up for this. As I quietly get myself ready, the other two have already started down, Andre equipping a mining helmet for visibility. Nice. I follow behind and try to prepare myself for the worst.

* * *

"So, Carol. You really think you can get away with this?" Alessandra ask from her cage, finally waking up from her previous tranq attack.

The cave dweller simply laughs and taps the gun as she walks to the Italian. "Y'know, I was thinkin' I couldn't at first. But now, I do! Just 'cause ya said that!" She goes into her inventory and pulls out, from all things imaginable, an Electric Prod and turns it on, illuminating her face in the darkness. "An' I can get away with a who'lot more 'fore your little friends get 'ere."

Alessandra is actually taken back by this and steps to the center of the cage. She hasn't seen this woman in three years, and now, with the faint blue glow from the Prod, she has seen the face of someone insane and broken. "You won't do anything to me. We're the only leverage you have. You kill us and Stefan and Andre will have no mercy."

Carol chuckles lowly to herself and turns the Electric Prod off, returning the cave to it's eerie darkness. "Good. May the Lord have mercy, for if these men have none I am cursed to damnation for my hatred not even Christ would forgive." Carol taps the rifle to the ground as she walks to the center of her cave room before perking up, looking to the corridor towards the entrance. "Well… Looks like we got ourselves some company. Y'all just stay here, I'm gonna take care ah' these bastards."

* * *

As we made our way down, I couldn't help but notice the distinct lack of insects and lava. Than again, after I asked Stefan he explained that it is found deeper in the caves. Much more than where Carol would make her cave base. Although, I couldn't help but notice giant webs. More than likely from from the spiders Stefan mentioned. We walk for a few minutes before Andre holds up his hand and stops.

"Everyone, hold," he says, stepping forward and kneeling down, "Tripwires." I look down and notice that his mining helmet is indeed showing the faint outline of a string. "She's booby trapped zis please."

"Oh shit… You don't think she's expecting us, do you?"

"Of course she is. And zat we would avoid diplomacy and go straight for a rescue mission." Andre stands back up and goes back a bit, picking up a rock and tossing it onto the wire. The second it makes contact, a light pufft sound followed by a dart hitting the stone wall across. "Everyone keep an eye out. And on ze ceilings. You don't want to end up on ze bad end of a Megalania."

What the fuck is a Megalania?

* * *

Ah, Megalanias. Carol's one true weakness. Ever since she came into these caves, she's gotten many of these beautiful beasts and use them daily. But now, she and her mini Megalania militia are crawling along the roofs of the cave to the intruders. "You's a good boy, ain't ya Killian?" She pats her lizard before hearing the faint sound of a rock rolling on the ground, followed by a tripwire being activated.

She smirks and retreats the lizards a few feet on the ceiling, waiting to hear the three make their way under them. Although, with all these echoes, that's pretty hard to pinpoint. "Alright Killian, Monsra, Jaspers. We's gonna get the pounce on these bitches."

* * *

"And then ve sort of just forgot about it." Stafan finishes speaking as we come to the first fork in fhe caves.

"Not gonna lie, that's kinda fucked up y'all just forgot about Carol. Now, which way we going?"

Andre looks down each way and points to the right. "Zey all eventually end up in the same location. Zis is the least perilous of the two if I recall correctly." He watches the ground and walls as he starts again. "Alzough… I don't recall much. It's been zree years."

"Well, that's definitely reassuring."

"Shut up. Just watch ze roofs. Zere are giant reptiles able to climb atop the ceilings of caves. Zey are called Megalania and zey are ze deadliest creatures in zese caves."

"Second deadliest!" A new voice shouts from above, causing all three of us to look up. For less than a second, the light from Andre's helmet shows a trio of lizards twice as large as a person. The center one has a woman sitting on it. She laughs before kicking the Megalania, causing it and the other two to jump off, flip over, and land in front of us. "Well well well, look who we have 'ere. Mister Nazi, Mister Frenchie, and Mister Newbie. How can I help y'all?"

It takes a second before Stefan lifts up his gun and step forward. "You know damn vell vhy ve're here!"

"Hmm? Oh, right. You want Bomba' Gal and Miss Loudmouth! Sorry, but y'all know tha' deal." She lifts up one hand, palm to the ceiling. "I want tha' keys outta here," She does the same with her other hand. "If I don't get it, I kill tha' bitches an' you three."

"Well, we're fucked."

Carol smirks and snaps her fingers. "Take it away, fellas." With this, one of the Megalania charges and knocks Andre to the ground, throwing his helmet to the side destroying it. We we're in the dark.

At least, we would be if it wasn't for a light blue glow coming from Carol. That was an Electric Prod. I could make out the slightest outline of a grin before she charges, ramming straight into Stefan and throwing the prod in my direction. It made contact and… darkness again.

* * *

"23. Vital signs on all survivors."

"O-oh, ok." The agent types in a few lines into the computer and brings up heart monitors with all the survivors names and pictures next to them.

"Hmm… All except the two captured and Carol are unconscious. My, for a blind bitch, this Texan sure does know what she's doing."

"U-um… Yes, she does. Miss Gemi-" The Agent catches himself quick and scoots away a little. "I-I mean number 42! Does… does Carol being blind nullify the entire test? I, um, I think unless they are perfectly… perfect?"

"Oh, one little glitch can't hurt. It's not like these ARKs have any of them anyways."

"Actually, I recall them having quite a few…"

"Yes, but the main designers and coders have been working twice as hard as usual. We cannot allow glitches to last long."

"Um… Carol's been blind for two and a half years, and living in the cave for three. Both of which you said you programmed to be impossible."

"Fuck off 23."

* * *

 _A/N: Guess who's back bitches_


	29. Chapter 29: Maxime Part Quarttuor

I'm not sure how long I was out, all I know is that when I wake up it was completely dark. I couldn't even tell if my eyes were open or not. 'Twas nothing but me and an eternal nothingness. At least, it was before I hear a tapping sound come from… in front of me? It's difficult to tell with the amount of echo in here. After a few seconds the tapping stops and I hear something laugh.

"Well, look who decided ta' wake up!" Hell, it's Carol. "We've been waitin' on ya buddy!"

Hell. It was Carol. I believe this is the definition of dead fucked. I look up to where I believe her voice is coming and try to charge at her, only to be met with a hard bar hitting my face. I fall back down and hold my head, noticing a warm liquid slightly dripping down the left side of my face. "What do you want with us, Carol?"

She laughs again and audibly pats the cage. "You already know that, Gregg. I want out. An' to my knowledge, y'all got a key."

"Yeah, a key that needs that Artifact that's in this cave! It opens a portal to a boss arena where we fight a giant ass monstrosity and get a trophy and some shit called Tek Element!" Quick recap. Always important, even when unnecessary.

"Thrice I have said, bullshit," the Texan responds before stepping away, tapping along the ground again. "The possibility that any way off this Island is with those damn Artifacts is so goddamn stupid!"

"Well, I mean… what other reason would they be here?" That is actually a very valid question.

"To test our strength! Do ya know how hard it is to get down an' back up? Of course we'll be gettin' some kinda trophy."

To my left, I hear a very tired laugh. "Zat is… ze stupidest explanation I've ever heard." Andre! Thank god he's still alive! He's my, like, second favorite on The Island! "We don't just get trophies for doing caves. Zere is a reason for everyzing!"

"Shut up!" Carol yell, clicking something and making the blue glow appear again. She seemed to like those Electric Prods. "Look, I got my ways of figurin' things out. Best y'all tell me now 'fore I let my Spiders at ya."

I can't help but chuckle a little, getting the perfect smart ass comment. "I blew up a gargantuan Spider Queen by shoving C4 up its ass. I'm sure I can take care of a few normal sized arachnids."

Carol returns the laugh, noticeably moving back to my cage with the Prod. "Listen here new guy. I ain't got no normal Spiders. These are my Spiders. They'll kill ya 'fore ya even know what got ya."

"Oh yeah?" Dear lord, I'm getting cocky. "I bet the freedom of all of these guys I can beat your Spiders with what's in my inventory right now." Remember what Han said for god's sake!

"Oh? An' just what am I gon' get if ya lose?"

Don't you fucking say it. "My life." I fucking said it.

Before Carol can speak I hear a very familiar laugh come from my right. "You are, by far, the biggest idiota I have ever had the displeasure of knowing, Greggory." Well, good to see Alessandra is still alive and well. "There is no way you can beat her Ragni with the shit I gave you!"

"Love the encouragement Aless." I said it again. What the heck am I doing, giving people nicknames? "But you're probably right. Offer revoked." Can I even take back my offer at this point?

Carol is quiet for a second before speaking again. "A'ight, you ain't got'a beat ma' Spiders." I heard the click of a lock followed by a creek. "Ya got'a beat me."

"Excuse me?"

"Ya heard me. Get out'a that cage, put ya fists up, an' fight me." I feel I may be dead fucked. "I'm givin' ya an out here. I'll beat ya to death so ya ain't got'a go through the hours 'a torture I got lined up for the others!" Yep. Dead fucked.

"Oh… ok then?" I feel the bars and make my way out of the cage. At least, I think I did. There's no way of knowing. Pun unintentional, but I am completely in the dark of my situation. "Can we at least have light? I see no fairness in this."

Carol is quiet for a second before giggling. Then chuckling. Then laughing a laugh that would make Alessandra scared. She turns off the Electric Prod and starts tapping along the ground, stopping when she hits something metal. "Nothin' in life is fair, darlin'." She pressed something and the entire cave comes into light, blinding me and making the others cry out.

Carol laughs again and taps along the floor. I am unable to tell where she went due to my vision being unable to adjust. "Ya see G, life in the dark has rendered me blind, meanin' I can get a few freebies in 'fore ya can see right, thanks to the lights not havin' effect on me." The second she finishes, I feel the butt of a gun hit hard across my face, throwing me back and hit my cage.

"What the hell?" I get myself straightened up before having my proper vision return, only for it to be blacked out by a woman's fist. I fight through it and open my eyes to get the final adjustment, getting a proper look of the cave base. It actually fairly nice considering. There was a number of small platforms off thatch with the basic necessities on them: fireplaces, cooking pots, smithy, mortar and pestle. All that jazz.

Along the walls were a bit more advanced, having straight metal floors with machines on them. Generators, fridges, big stoves, lights. There was also a number of Megalania and giant spiders along the base and a few bats hanging from the ceiling. But that isn't what got me the most. She had Arthropleura. Six of them in total, all with saddles. There were a number of scorpions and giant kind of bird looking animals on the opposite wall as well. Carol wasn't playing any games here.

"So, uh…." I start, "Nice base? Better than mine." I glance over to see Alessandra slap her face in annoyance and swear in Italian.

"Listen, y'all attemptin' ta' compliment me ain't gonna save ya ass." Well, there goes my only defense mechanism. "But it will help me find an' kick ya' ass!"

"What? How is that able to he-" I am abruptly cut off with the meeting of the butt of Carol's gun, throwing me back onto my ass and with a bleeding nose.

"'Cause it's easier ta' kill tha' ones monologuin'!" She laughs and comes up to me, bringing the butt back down into the center of my chest and throwing all of my breath out of me. "An' here ah' thought ah' was gon' get a real fight." She emphasizes the end of her statement with a swift, borderline crippling kick into my ribs. Now I know what Alessandra was feeling when I beat her the other day.

I force myself through the pain and somehow roll myself away from the next kick, running into a wall that I perch up on. I push myself until I was standing again, properly looking at Carol in the foggy, grey eyes. We stand there for a few seconds as Carol taps on the floor, making her ways towards me. If I move, she'll know where I am and attack. If I don't, she'll run into me and attack while I'm against a wall. Come on Gregg, thing dammit!

That's when I get a thought. Slow, calculated movements that would be fairly quiet. I pick up my right foot, move it a good bit away from me, place it down slowly so it doesn't let out any noise, then pick myself up to move over. By Carols still walking until she hits the wall with her gun, I can only assume it went as planned. I kept this up and slid my way behind her, keeping a fair distance away. In the fastest, quietest motion I could make, I grabbed her head and slammed it into the rock wall in front of her.

Either it didn't affect her or she didn't care, for as soon as she came off the wall, face bleeding like mad, she turns her body and rams her elbow right into my face. I fall back but am able to keep myself standing, my vision a light bit blurry from the attack. I steady myself and stay still, not letting any noise escape me. Although, Miss Carol didn't care as she charges towards me, ducking and grabbing my torso to throw us both down. On the ground, Carol grabs the collar of my cloth shirt and picks my head up before slamming it down into the floor, then again, and again.

She did this a good four or five times before throwing me down and standing up. My vision is far too blurred and broken from the stone, so I am unable to properly see what the woman was doing, but I did hear the sound of a gun being picked up. I have to work fast, and fast is what I will do! Through my horrid condition and bleeding from both sides of my head, I stumble myself back up and rush at the blurry blob of Carol and tackle her, pinning us both against the wall again.

I take no time in jamming my fists into her gut, landing under the sternum and forcing up each time. After a few seconds of this I throw her face first onto the cave floor, stomping on her back multiple times, digging my heel into her spine every time. By this time, my sight has regained properly and I look up, spotting the four others in the cages watching in obvious combined shock and awe, although there was a third look from Alessandra of impressed.

I look back down at Carol and see she is coughing up blood, trying to move herself back up. I step off of her and reach down, grabbing her Implant arm and pulling it up to enter it. To keep her at a state of helplessness, I steal her weapons and tool, despite it not being necessary to be honest, her Health bar said she was only at 36 out of 270. Along with her rather abundant amount of guns, I take the keys to the cages for everyone. I

throw her arm back onto the ground before stepping over her, walking back to the cages and unlocking them all. "Alright, I don't know how long she'll be out like this, get out quick."

Alessandra is the first to laugh at her escape of the cave, rushing over and giving Carol a swift kick to the side. She turns around and eyes me rather… it was a strange combination of looks, mostly filled with pride and anger. "Assolutamente colossale idiota! Cosa diavolo mai amorevole è wrimg con te? E ' stato fottutamente incredibile! I may not kill you now!" She then comes up, slaps me, and then hugs me before throwing me back.

Katlyn laughs at me and steps out behind, patting me on the back hard. "Good job, Greggory! Thank you, so freaking much! I don't want to think what she was planning to do to us over time, although I do recall something about torture. She goes over and simply looks over Carol, not touching or speaking to her.

André bounds out quick and nearly knocks me over in a hug, lifting me up and shaking me until I'm on the floor again. "Zat vas an amazing display Gregg! I say zis is vorth many a drink tonight! Stefan! Ven ve get back to base, get ze kegs up and running again!"

Stefan is the last to comes and simply looks down at me, giving a light smirk and a nod before making his way down again. Seems like he isn't the talking type in these situations.

I finally get a moment to breath and I walk up to the rest of the group, all of them looking down at the barely alive Texan. "So… what are we going to do with her?"

Alessandra scoffs and kicks her again. "I got a few ideas. Restituisci il dolore che ci ha dato, dieci volte."

I instinctively jumped between the two women and help my arms out, trying to keep Alessandra at a distance from Carol. "Now, let's not get too carried away here. Sure, she nearly murdered me and kidnapped y'all, but… I mean, come on, Katlyn trapped her down here for three years. Who is in the wrong here."

Katlyn, Alessandra, and Stefan all nearly shouted in unison, "HER."

I facepalm and, against my better judgement, slap all three of them in one swift motion. "No, dipshits! If anyone's at fault, it's Katlyn for premature explosions! Look, I already beat the shit out of her /and/she's blind. Is there really any good that can come from just killing her?" This definitely caught their attention, as they all exchanged glances in silence. I nod and smirk a little. "That's what I thought. Now, we do need a proper idea of what to do with her…"

André straight up skipped talking and grabbed the Texan, dragging her into one of the cages and locking it. "Zere. Now, ve have time to get a proper plan of action. Personally, she vas my favorite prior to her getting trapped. Bringing her back to ze tribe would be beneficial as she has all of zese creatures we have yet to tame." He motions towards the Megalania and Araneos. "She has a mini underground army."

Alessandra snapped a little at the Frenchie. "Excuse me!? You want to bring this maniac back to above ground with us? She tried to kill us!"

Stefan snickers and quietly responds, "Ve let you stay up there." He is quickly hit in the arm by Aless.

I step in and raise my hand to speak. "Um, not sure if I get a say, but Carol is pretty badass. If she could come back up, she could end up being far more useful than she is down here or dead. If we're voting, I say keep the blind bitch."

André nods and steps next to me. "I agree. For someone vithout zeir sight, she put up a grand fight against Greggory. Ve are doing a vote, and I say we return her to her home vith us." He looks to Stefan. "Stef? Your say on ze matter?"

Stefan huffs and shakes his head. "Ve can only have one uncontrollable sociopath up there vith us. I vouldn't feel safe vith another. She stays."

Katlyn nods quickly. "Look, I like saving people whenever I want, but I wouldn't like her being with us. I was the one who got her stuck down here, she'd probably try and kill me the first chance she gets!" That was an obvious enough answer from the Brit. Now, that just leaves Alessandra.

André looks to the Italian warrior and steps forward. "Zis is all yours now, Alessandra. Ze life of an innocent voman, driven to zis by ze stupid decisions of someone else." Aless darts her eyes to Carol, and then to André, then back to Carol. "Alessandra, you know vat is ze right choice. Do you not remember vat you two had before zis?"

That seemed to hit her hard. Alessandra instantly shoots her glare to the leader, a strange mix of sorrow and anger in her eyes. She takes a deep breath before nodding, turning her back to the group. "Let her go. Do whatever you dumbasses want with her, I don't care. She's the same as all of you to me. Expendable."


	30. Chapter 30: Batillum

"Well, we have to tell her and hope she doesn't flip out. Who's gonna do it?" I look around, everyone aside André still adjusting to the decision of the group. Eventually, I shake my head and raise my hand. "I guess I'll do it. I wanted to anyways." They all, minus Alessandra, do the stereotypical act where they pretend to actually have wanted to but didn't. Douchebags. Except Aless, she's honest.

I go into my inventory and take out some of the Medical Brew for the Texan. Thank goodness Stefan gave me some extra of those. I unlock and enter the cage and pick up her head, still bleeding and looking a little bit alive, but noticeably unconscious. I hold her head as I pour a little of the Brew into her throat, adjusting her to where it would swallow instead of suffocate. After a second I looked into her Implant and saw a bar was going up. Slowly, but going up. When it was done, her Health bar was now at around 85 and she coughed up blood again. I gave her another and it stopped at 125, which was well above what she needed to be good again. She coughed one more time without blood and her eyes bolted open, showing her cloudy grey irises.

Then, she proceeded to punch me in the face. I would be lying if I said I didn't deserve it. She pushes me off and very shakenly struggles to pick herself up, trying to throw a second punch at me. Thankfully, I had recovered a little and was able to grab her fist mid-attack. I held her as I attempted to calm her down. "Carol. Carol, calm down. Let me talk, I'm not going to fight you again."

She retorted with a very striking kick to the family jewels, causing me to grab them in shock and fall to my knees. You know that feeling when you normally get hurt down there, like by sitting on them by accident? Yeah, that's nothing to the shock of pain I got from her kick. It was hard to make out, but I'm more than certain Alessandra and Katlyn were laughing their rears off. Carol leans against the cage bars and breaths. "Ah' swear ta' god… Ah' will kick tha' fuckin' shit outta him one day…" She takes a heavy breath and looks around the cage. "So, y'all just gonna keep me in this thing? What's tha' deal, so ah' know whether 'er not to kill this'n."

As I am currently unable to do anything, André steps up to the cage and answers. "Ve have had a vote on zat matter." He looks down to me, then to the group behind him. "Ve are in agreement zat you do not deserve to stay down here any longer. Zere is no vay ve can make up for ze actions zat have happened, and zere is nozing ve can do to make you come back vith us. Ve just ask you return and assist in us returning home, so zat you may never have to deal vith any of us ever again."

Carol stood there for a second, most likely trying to process the entire situation. I finally gather myself enough to stand and open the cage door, giving a sort of metaphorical door to a new life. "I promise I won't fight you up there." Gotta put some humor on to lighten the mood.

This actually gets a chuckle from the Texan as she feels along the cage, coming to the door, and walking out. She smirks and keeps laughs quietly to herself, throwing her hands up. "Let's get tha' fuck off this bitch! Can't wait ta' never see y'all fuckers again! Now someone gimme ma' gun, ah' need it ta' walk around right." It takes a second, but out of all of us, Alessandra is the first to laugh in a more positive manner for her. This grabs a laugh from me, and then Stefan and André. Although, for some possibly obvious reason, Katlyn is the only one not to laugh.

I look through my inventory, grabbing the woman's gun. "Just promise you're not going to shoot me." I laugh and hand it to her, hoping for the best. And the best is what I got, as she grabbed the base and pointed it to the ground, tapping it on the stone. That's like her cane or something, and that's pretty neat.

"Now, I believe ve had an Artifact to find! Carol, are you good to go down into ze caves?"

Carol looked in the general direction of André and smirks, tapping the floor and stopping at a large chest. "Open this. You'll see something pretty nice." She steps back and lean against the stone wall.

André and Stefan exchange quick glances before the former goes up to the chest and looks into it. His face slowly grows into a smile as he takes something and puts it into his Implant. "Carol," he starts to ask, "how many Artifacts are in there?"

"Two full ones and 37. I've been busy in the past few years. Let's all grab one and then… well, wait. What am I supposed to do?" That was actually a pretty solid question. Does she even have a proper above ground base anymore?

I was about to speak before Alessandra of all people speaks first. "You're base is destroyed, I visit it often to check. You can stay at mine until we get out of here, which will hopefully not take more than a week."

"Well then, guess I'm bunkin' with tha' Italian. Got room fer tha' Araneos and Megas? Ah' ain't leavin' these babies." Carol taps her way to the arachnids and pats one on the head, leading into a little hug. She loved these guys it looked.

"As long as they can keep my place protected, we're good. I believe the Abomination is more active than normal lately." The Abomination? She talking about the Giga? I don't want to see how active it can get.

This was news that definitely got to the Texan, seen by the sudden surprised intake of breath and stepping back. "Ol' Big'n's runnin' round still? 'Ere I thought y'all woulda killed tha' sonofabitch by now! Can't count on y'all fer nothin'." She pushes out a laugh, but it was noticeably one of those fake laughs that people do to take tension out of a situation. "Lemme grab ma' stuff, ah' won't take too long."

Katlyn and Stefan stays near the back as me and the other two assist Carol. André says to grab an Artifact, just to avoid coming here again for the next boss. After an extensive job of asking if something is good to take or not, we finally leave with our inventory with metal, stones, fibers, blueprints, saddles, weapons; freaking everything! For being in a cave for years, she was doing good for herself! She says it's due to the 'loot crates' down here increasing in value over time. That reminds me of the white diamond thing that fell from the sky on my first day. I have to look out for those more.

"A'ight, ah' got all ma' shit. Man, gettin' the fellas all tha' way to Red Ob' is gonna be a bitch an' a half." Carol taps the ground to her Megalania and hops onto one, giving it a pat on the head before whistling to the others.

Alessandra smirks a little and steps forward. "Well, I may have something to help with that situation." She turns towards the exit and starts making her way back up. "André, I'm taking the Tapejara, I'll bring it back." Before he had the chance to answer, the Italian booked it all the way up the cave.

"I… I never told her she could take, did I? I don't zink so." André goes behind her, followed by Stefan, than Katlyn, me and Carol. Upon reaching the top, we all, aside Carol, see the Italian already flying off on the bird. "Yet, she lifts it anyways."

The Frenchman pulls out his radio and switches to a stable station. "Alessandra?"

"Yes?"

"Qu'est-ce que tu fais?"

"Listen, I'll be back in ten minutes. For now, just get all of Carol's creatures to the beach." With that, the radio goes to static.

André shakes his head and turns to the group, "You heard the femme folle, get the spiders."

The group obliges and returns to the depths, starting to bring number after number of Araneo, Megalania, Bat, Arthropleura and Scorpion back to the surface until we had groups of 13 Spiders, 20 Megalania, 27 Bats, 14 Arthropleura and 11 Scorpions. Girl was loaded. When we finish, it has been well over a ten minutes and we were still waiting at the beach. I look up to see it was getting a tad dark, encouraging me to make a campfire and everyone to gather around.

We all sit there, exchanging stories and jokes until we hear something a little strange. A… motor? We all turn to the ocean to see, flying acrossing the water until parking in the sand, Alessandra on a rather large motor boat. It was fairly larger, too, a good 70 or so feet on each side. It was more a floating square than anything, but still pretty impressive. On the boat, was a refining forge, chairs, a table, a smithy, some cannons, a mortar and pestle, and-perched in the back-the Tapejara she left on. Although, through all of that, there was one thing that got me the most. Alessandra was wearing a fucking pirate hat.

Alessandra steps off the boat and to the fire. "Scuse, I had a run in with an Alpha Leedsichthys. Now, I believe we have creatures to transfer to the Red Obelisk?"

We all sort of look at Alessandra for a second before Carol, of all people, says, "That hat looks nice on ya."


	31. Chapter 31: Queanstiones

"So, let me get this straight. You kill a whale, and you get a pirate hat?"

"Yes."

"What the fuck is going on in this stupid dinosaur filled island!?" That shouldn't be a thing that should happen! Albeit, I am currently on a giant motor boat filled with giant spiders and centipedes as a mini army of huge bats fly behind up, but still. A line has to be drawn somewhere in terms of ridiculousness.

Alessandra laughs and keeps sailing, looking up to make sure The Mountaineers were still on their Tapejara above us. "You learn that there are many thing on The Island that make no sense, Greggory. The trick is not to let it get to you."

"But there are limits to things not getting to me! You can't kill an animal and get clothes from it!" Was that hypocritical? I mean, on my first day I did find some berries, gloves, and a slingshot in that one Carno. "It's just wrong for some reason."

"Are you aware of how wrong everything here is?"

"Very good point, I may shut up now." I probably wasn't going to shut up. That ain't like me.

Speaking of shutting up, Carol was being extremely quiet during the trip. All she did to this point was stand at the front of the boat with her arms spread out, occasionally laughing a little. It was around six minutes out the cave beach before she properly spoke. "Ah have missed this. So god dang much. Tha' wind in ma' hair, tha' feelin' of fresh sea air blowin' against ma' face. Ah thought ah'd never feel this again."

Alessandra looks over to me and nods to the controls, signaling me to take it. I oblige and she goes up to the Texan. "You know, that was never meant to happen. If I was there, you would have made it out those years ago."

"Three years… ah can't believe ah was down there fer that long…" She puts her arms down and turns to Aless. "What all did 'ah miss? Any new things pop up outta nowhere?"

"Oh yes. Otters, Diplocaulus, a whole number of creatures. It's strange they appear from nowhere. I swear this place is unnatural."

I'm not sure why, but this point got my attention. "Wait, things just appeared? What do you mean?"

Carol turned back to me. "'Fore 'ah went down to tha' caves fer years, new creatures just popped inta' existence every now an' then."

Alessandra nodded and continued for her. "Creatures that don't belong with all of these other ones."

I almost completely turned the boat in the wrong directions, making a slightly strange realization. "Like a zoo?"

"Excuse me?"

"A zoo, they have animals that don't belong together in one giant, enclosed area, usually made so they can't get out. They're made as entertainment and observation of rare and endangered animals."

Alessandra looks to Carol and then back to me. "What are you getting at here?"

"What if-and this is a colossal what if-this Island… what if it's a zoo for dinosaurs? What is more endangered than extinct creatures?"

Carol waves her hand at the theory. "Ok, wait, no. How in tha' 'ell can this place be a zoo? Everythin' is runnin' wild an' these things are super deadly!"

"Exactly, but not primal instinct deadly. These things don't act like they would normally, attacking anything with a pulse out of nature, not to mention they get tamed and obey every command by people, creatures that existed 65 million years after they all died."

The two women look at each other before Alessandra takes out her radio. "André, come in. Meet at my base, we have a slightly smart theory that makes a little sense."

We sail for a few more minutes until we are under the large platform under the Red Obelisk, parking and unloading all of the creatures on the beach. We quickly gather ourselves and rush to the actual proper base part, meeting André, Stefan and Katlyn. The leader steps forward. "Alright, explain what zis zeory zing is please."

Alessandra looks towards me and I move up. "Ok, this is just a working idea I got from hearing these two talk. This whole Island is a giant fucking zoo and these creatures are either not real dinosaurs or have been made to be the way they are."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it! These prehistoric killing machines of flesh and bone can be tamed and controlled by simply knocking them out and then force feeding them meat and berries? This woman," I throw my in the direction of Alessandra, "has fucking Megalodons! Giant fucking fish! They don't work and behave like normal animals! Fish are too retarded to be tamed aside maybe dolphins!"

"I don't zink dolphins are fish. But I understand where you are coming from wiz zis." André paces back and forth a little before nodding. "It makes sense, but the real question is zis: Who put zem here? And why us?"

Katlyn steps up. "And why all from different time periods? How powerful are these people to use time travel like this?"

I raise my hand again. "I actually had an idea about that as well." This one was definitely going to make me sound crazy. "We aren't from different time periods. Like these dinosaurs, we're not really humans. Altered and given fake memories to simulate having actually existed before this? L-look, I know it's totally absurd, but how else can we explain any of this?"

The group all look at each other-except Carol, of course-with expressions of interest confusion before all turning to Alessandra. She looks at them with a 'What?' style on her face, putting her hands up. "I don't know anything about all that. It certainly is improbable, but not… n-no, no, it is impossible. I know I existed before this. Born in Milan before moving to Venice with my mother and sister before she left for the Americas."

"But can you remember specific dates? That's something I noticed, I cannot remember days except when I was born. Not when I graduated, not when I got a pet, nothing. I remember everything perfectly asides that."

They all look at each other again, this time more nervously than confused. Eventually, the quiet giant Stefan raises his hand. "I am villing to say I believe him."

Alessandra is hesitant but eventually nods. "Although extremely, extremely unlikely, it is a fairly almost likely possibility."

Carol definitely jumps on quick on the agreement wagon. "Ah somehow survived three years in a cave filled with spiders tha' size a' cattle and centipedes bigger than ma' pa's pickup, ain't no way any a' this is actually real."

Katlyn shakes her head and backs up. "I… I can't believe that. There could be any number of reasons for this shit, but us not being humans? You're fucking insane."

"I have to agree wiz ze Brit," André steps up, "zis is purely asinine, and I don't zink we aren't real people, and zere has to be some way to explain why zese creatures behave like zis."

The wheel finally turns back to me and I have to come out with something I really don't want to. "Like I said, it was only a theory. Honestly, even I have trouble believing it! But I think it does bring up one very important question even more so than before. What put us here, and, if my theory ends up being right, what made us?"

Alessandra laughs a little and whistles, bringing Lupo over to her. "Well, whoever or whatever it was, me and Lupo here will not stop until we rip it to shreds."

* * *

The Agent instantly turns on his radio and calls his superior. "Number 42! We have a situation! The survivors may have figured out the ARK!"

The superior quickly rushes to the control room before barging in, straightening herself up and walking to the desk. "Explain, 23."

"When I was watching them, they-they-they started talking about the creatures-about themselves!" He pulls up a screen with the recorded conversation on it.

' _We aren't from different time periods. Like these dinosaurs, we're not really humans.'_

42 Stares at the screen for a second before letting out a sigh. She stands and rubs the bridge of her nose and chuckles a little, throwing the lower of the two off. "Number 23, this is not them figuring out the ARK. This is them simply getting theories of the situation. Nothing dangerous."

"But-but…! It's not theory! That is exactly what is happening!" She cowers a little in his seat. "A-apologies for raising my voice!"

"All is good 23, just keep it at a minimum. As for these six, just keep your eyes on them. It doesn't mean a thing they know what's happening. They don't really know the whole situation." She walks past him and the desk to the giant window facing the stars. She scans everything and observes every ARK she can before turning to the orange, dead husk of rock that use to be home.

She presses her hand on the window and sighs. "Have I ever told you I once petted a Rex, 23? 143 years ago today, on my tenth birthday. I was taken to a Park, the creatures were so realistic looking, you could have believed they were alive. It was when I grew old enough took this job I discovered what they really were. We were so stupid letting what happen to the planet happen… Do you know what ARK stands for?"

The Agent looks to the superior, tilting his head at the conversation. "N-Number 42? What are you saying?"

"Alternative Reality Kingdom. The corporation that thought creating a fake world filled with beasts before time and of fantasy was a good idea. Not once did they think it could go so wrong." She continues to look before gaining anger, slamming her fist against the glass. " _Mas imbeciles que eran!_ " She turns and starts out towards the doors.

23 jumps and sits back down. He watches as the terrifying Spaniard reaches the doors and barges out louder than she entered. He looks over his shoulder and goes back to his work, leaning back and popping his knuckles. "Alright survivors, let's see how you care for this little mess." He reaches over to the control system for Supply drops, turning the commonness of them down a good thirty percent. "You won't be learning anything on my watch, not with everyone pissed off more than usual at least."

* * *

 _A/N: Due to situations, I have moved to mobile only so a few conditions have to be made, specifically the central bar does not work properly, so I have to improvise. Sorry._


	32. Chapter 32: Replicantis

We all took turns getting the number of creatures into organized lines and group, apparently working to sooth Alessandra's OCD. I wanted get Behemoth off the boat, but the Italian nearly bit my head off when I offered. Apparently she's the only one that can ride him. Carol taps around the base to get herself acquainted as The Mountaineers set off back to their own, leaving me with the two women and dozens of animals which can murder me before I could even react.

Carol finds her way back to me and puts her hand on my shoulder, probably to get a feel of where I was facing. She smirks and reaches up to my face, giving me an extremely hard slap. "An' that was fer kickin' ma' ass earlier!" She laughs and pats my arm. "A'ight, ah' think ah' got all outta ma' system. Hope we can be pals from her on out."

I smile and chuckle, rubbing my face. I swear, she can slap harder than she can hit. "Yeah, same here. You're actually pretty good at fighting, for someone that can't see her opponent."

"Hey, ya' learn ta' adapt in thes kinds a' situations. Ah' know how ta' hit a hard ta' see target, an' y'all is one hard target, even when ah'm tryin'!"

"Well, I do have a history of avoiding getting hit by people. School wasn't the nicest place for me." Everyone was an asshole. In Canada. The bullies there are the absolute worst!

"Ah never went ta' school. Too busy on tha' farm."

"Oh, you were from a farming era?"

"Depression."

"Oh. That's sad. The Great Depression or a regular one?"

"Ah guess tha' Great Depression, 'cause tha' whole country was outta work fer years."

"Yep, that's the one. Ok, so, we have a Frenchman from WWI, a Russian from WWII, a Brit from The Black Plague, a Texan from The Great Depression, an Italian from 2015 and me, a Canadian from 2017." A very colorful cast of idiots! "So, we have roughly 500 years worth of experience between everyone here, if we do somehow end up being real people. We can so do this."

Alessandra hops off the Rex and comes up to me and Carol. "That's the kind of confidence I like to see from a new guy. Sad thing is that usually gets ya killed sooner."

"Oh yeah, that's reassuring. What I wanna know, is how does being confident kill-..." I go silent for a second when I look behind Alessandra, noticing something a little… off about Behemoth. "Uh, Aless?"

"Yes?"

"Has… Has your Rex always looked like that?"

The Italian turns around and stays silent for a second, turning and taking a look at Lupo and the other wolves. They looked different, too! "Uh… Huh, ok, so that's a… that's new to me. I… Greggory, what did you do?"

"Me? Why do just suddenly accuse me? I have absolutely no way of altering anything on this fucking Island aside cutting down trees! And I am not very good at that!"

"Can ah' ask what tha' deal is here?" Carol asks, more or less needing a play by play.

"The T-Rex and Dire Wolves look different now. Actually… kinda better if you ask me."

Before the Texan can respond, all our radios go off at the same time, being met with Katlyn's voice. "Our Argents look retarded! Our Sarcos are smoother! What the hell is happening!?"

"Jesus shitting Christ Katlyn, calm down! Now what's going on? Over."

"Stop saying over, and our things look weird now!"

Alessandra straight up steals my radio from my hands. "We're having the same situation here. Behemoth and the Wolves appear different. Almost as if someone had time to smooth them out after years of advancing their artist capabilities with 3D renderings."

"What's 3D?"

"Not important. What is is that our things look different now. I can live with that to be honest, but I'd enjoy it if it wasn't so… what would you call this?"

I raise my hand. "Dropped out of nowhere for no reason?"

"Exactly! Dropped out of nowhere, just like everything else ok this me forsaken Island."

"You really think that much of yourself to replace god forsaken for me forsaken?"

"I don't know where he's been lately, and I'm the most dominant thing here."

"Second most."

"Watch it."

"Look," Carol says, I assume ironically, "ah agree yer pretty dominant in this 'ere dino Island, but 'ol biggun overthrows e'ryone."

"The Abomination has nothing compared to me! If I had the resources and planning I could tame that damn thing!"

This comment made something come to mind. I have absolutely no sense of inventory management and I don't think I put something away. I grin and open my Implant, pulling out a very specific saddle and throwing in front of us. "I you do that, I think you may need this thing."

Alessandra looked at me with complete awe for several seconds before slapping her face, kicking the saddle. "I don't… Come ha fatto, un completo idiota nessuno come te, a fare questo?"

"I didn't make, it was at that base I found in the Redwoods." Wait… how did I know what she said? I don't speak but what little Italian my mom tried to teach me. "Along with a blueprint for something kinda cool in my opinion. Speaking of, is it alright if I have that stuff called Tek Element you got from the Spider fight back when?"

"Tek Element? Why? That stuff came from a boss creature, it must be powerful, what are you making?"

"Wow, you already got to the point there, didn't you?" I dig in my inventory and bring out the small blueprint book I found in the Redwoods. "Those guys that made this Giga saddle had a little book, filled with recipes for Tek Tier stuff. Armor, buildings, saddles, there's even a thing called a Tek Replicator, which I think is used to make the Tek stuff.

"Unfortunately, the Replicator can only be made in Beacons apparently, so we have to wait for one of those." Almost on cue, a large flash of light appears on the beach below us, with a large loot drop Beacon falling from the sky. "Huh. Convenient! But we also need a lot of Black Pearls and Polymer."

Alessandra waves her hand to stop me. "Wait wait wait, what? How in the hell did those Treehuggers fucking get this? This book is… it's not something they would even know of!"

Carol gives me and Alessandra a little tap on the leg with her walking rifle and raises her hand. "Well… There is a chance Isaiah would. He was crazy and spoke of giant beasts after his… incident."

Alessandra laughs. "Please! There's no way that insane, Implantless idiot would know anything. Anyone dumb enough to pry that thing out is not someone I'd listen to. Not like I listen to anyone anyways."

"No, but think! He said these Ultimate Lifeforms had special mechanics, able to make machines beyond the power of anything we could even believe to exist! Maybe this is what he said they'd be?"

"Carol…" Alessandra looked at the Texan for a second before snatching the book from my hands. "I always hated when you were right. Greggory, give me your Tek Element, I'll make this stuff."

I jump a little with the snatch, pouting a little. "Can't let the new guy have any fun, can you? Sure, give me a second." I enter my Implant and look through it, grabbing my small share of Element from the battle. Man, I need to organize my stuff some. Yeah, because that's what everyone loves to see, organization chapter. "Ok, here you go. Uh, hey, what's that you were saying about some guy named Isaiah?"

Alessandra takes the Element and starts walking down her base, heading towards the Beacon which me and Carol followed after. "Isaiah McKinley. A Jamaican survivor from 1937. Pumped all of his levels into Health, having a purely idiotic idea." She pushes open her Behemoth gate and continues. "He was able to rip out the Specimen Implant, but… it was not a pleasant sight afterwards.

"He quickly started losing his mind. Hair began to fall out, he could barely eat, was always speaking in gibberish, sometimes literally speaking what almost sounded like a different language, nearly alien if I believed in that sort of thing. He fell apart and then just… poof."

"Poof?"

"Disappeared. Went up to the volcano saying he knew a way out, and disappeared. Probably got eaten by a wild Raptor or something, might have fell into the lava."

"Wait… Up at the top of the volcano is a door. I said it may be the way out, maybe he did get out?"

"Without those stupid Trophies from the bosses like you said? Not a chance." We finally reach the Beacon as it touches down, Alessandra going to work on Tek stuff. "Ok, so… I am an idiot, I came down here talking so much I forgot all the other requirements for this. Thank you Greggory."

"Hey, don't blame me! You were the one wanting to jump the gun with this!" Why was I thrown under the bus on this? "Ok, fine, we'll go grab the stuff. What all do you need?"

Alessandra looks into the book and reads off. "600 Metal. 150 Black Pearls. 800 Polymer. That's it. Very resource heavy item. Must be more important than I thought. Alright, go get it, and if I see anything out of place, I will rip your testicles put through your eye holes which I emptied by pulling your eyes through your urethra."

"...Jesus woman."

"You have to instill the fear for any progress to be made. Now go get my shit before I kick yours out of you!"

I would hate to see this woman try and run a business. It would be real productive, but I feel morale would be pretty low. Well, except maybe with the most devout of masochists. I move on and head back up to the base, which is actually a lot harder than you think when it's pitch black dark, but I do eventually make it. Thankfully here is easier, due to all of Aless' buildings having torches and signs on them. Smart.

I gather all the materials and, after a bit of inventory management, make my way back to the Beacon. Thankfully this place was lit up like the damn Fourth of July. I get down and see the two women facing the water and talking. Should I say something or eavesdrop? Eavesdrop. I hide behind the Drop and lean in, catching the rear end of Alessandra's statement.

"-ends of the Earth. I nearly killed Katlyn over what happened."

Carol laughs and shakes her head, giving Alessandra a pat on the shoulder. "Oh man A, 'ah forgot ya cared enough ta' murder fer me!"

"Oh, well… I just felt it wouldn't be right for her to get away with that. I did beat the crap out of her instead, so that was something."

"Ya always had fun ways 'a gettin' that anger out, haven't ya?"

"When you were gone, I needed to find someway to control myself. People were annoying me too much, so I went with the more violent approach."

"Ya do have a little violent streak. Still doin' that thin' where ya hurt people down 'soon they get 'ere?"

I decide to break my silence and walk around. "Oh yeah, she definitely does. I can vouch for that, considering she tried to stomp me with that giant ass Rex back there two days ago."

This got Alessandra's attention as I see the quick flash of her Implant before she spins around, pointing a sword nearly an inch away from my neck. She breathes out quietly and looks up to me. "I'm still willing to do so if you sneak up on us again."

I laugh and go into my own Implant, dropping all the materials into their weird little box things. "There's the materials, make that Replicator so I can go home and sleep."

"You could have left at any time you wanted, I'm not keeping you." She picks up all the Metal and such then goes back to the Beacon, working to make the Replicator. It takes a few moments but eventually she grins, stepping back from the glowing green loot drop. "I'm going to go make a place to set this up at. Carol, stay with me, you're not in a situation to stay alone. Greggory, go home, return tomorrow to figure out which Artifact to go after next."

"Well, what if I don't want to go after an Artifact tomorrow? What if, I dunno, I want to go tame or level up stuff? I need strong animals too."

"Fine, do as you wish. It's not like I want to get out of this bitch anyways."

"I do too, it's just it will be easier if I had a freaking level 100 Centipede instead of the level 15 he his right now!"

Carol chuckles and points her rifle up to the direction of Alessandra's base. "Ah think 'ah got ya beat there, buddy. Fourteen Arthropleura, all above level 230."

Alessandra laughs loud and pats the Texan on the back. "Che è il canto che conosco e amo!"

I shake my head and turn around. "I'm going home. I'm still coming around tomorrow to check out that Tek stuff later!"


	33. Chapter 33: Palus

Looking back, I realized that trying to walk from the Red Obelisk to my base near the dead center of the Island in pitch black is not a smart idea whatsoever. Because, at this moment, I am completely disoriented with no point of reference, only have an Otter with me, and have the shot of a drunken Stormtrooper. Well, that's not particularly true actually. I did have one small thing in the sky as a sort of landmark. I say small, but it looks as if over the past couple days that strange light in the dead center of the sky. It appeared right above the volcano, probably where it still is.

A quick look up shows that I am correct! Well, looks like I'm a wise man, 'cause I'm following the biggest star in the sky. Not really all that wise when you think about it, following what is essentially an exploding ball of gas millions of light years in space… ANYWAYS. I keep a heavy look out of the area as I make my way farther in the Island, staying low and quiet through the woods. Fairly decent night all things considered, not a demonistic prehistoric lizard monster in sight. He says, turning pass some trees and catching the sight of… four glowing orange eyes. Troodons. Lovely.

Ok, I need to plan this before I royally bone myself. Now, it's a simple long, empty trail of grass with three boulders on the way. The closest on the left, middle is also left, and the farthest is way down there on the right. No way I can play hopscotch here. But, they do give me some pseudo-checkpoints. Climb up on those and wait for the little bastards to run off somewhere. Maybe my theory on these things being fakes could show through? Maybe works like a computer program and will only stay agro'd for a certain period of time? Wait, that only works on Stalkers in Subnautic and anything in WoW.

"Alright Greggory. Let's do this shit." I hype myself up before charging, make a B-line straight towards the first boulder. So far, pretty good. That is, of course, until I trip over one of the little fucks and knock us both down. Shit. I don't even acknowledge it as I stand and keep running, hearing the loud cawing noise coming from the fallen one and the echo from the other three. Well, got their attention.

I somehow get to the first boulder and climb up, hopefully a good distance away from the dinos. From the four sets of eyes rushing and jumping up at me. They seem to be at angles where they can't move, so that's good for me. I take a sit and watch down at the little things. They don't seem to be much for giving up on possibly easy meals. I open my inventory and take out my pistol, thinking about whether or not to take these things out. On the one hand, I wouldn't have to deal with them. On the other, it could attract the attention of something bigger and… worse.

Well, I say I could attract the attention, because, well, I heard something. Something big. And dangerous. And, as Alessandra would say, an Abomination. An Abomination that was charging through the trees, stopping at the edge of the field and roaring. While I am completely alone. Shit.

I look over to the otter, Blue and whisper, "Well, new old friend, it was nice knowing you." I then look down and close my eyes, letting out a quiet prayer to whoever may be listening. "However listens to these, please be merciful as I have done good with my life. I did not follow a church and am sorry, please find room in your heart to allow me into a pleasant afterlife."

I take a deep breath and aim up the pistol. Shit, it's too dark for any shot I throw off to actually hit the beast. I glance back down to see that the Troodons have completely given up one me and was now only directed towards 'ol Giga, staring glowing eyes to glowing eyes. If I remember correctly, this thing was brought out of it's crazy murder mode when that glow goes away, and I think the only way it can come out of murder mode is by wearing itself out. How long does that take again?

I wait for something to happen, staying completely still as the Giga slowly stalks to the side, walking the perimeter of the field for a good thirty seconds. Eventually he takes his first step forward, signalling an attack from the Troodons en masse, surprising me with the sight of four more eyes coming from the foliage. Bitches were doing a sneak attack! Genius! Unless they win, in which case I am dead fucked! Then again…

I take the opportunity, hopping off of the boulder and making my way into the trees. Hopefully those guys will keep themselves busy enough for me to… success! I burst into the forest and just start running, doing my best to put as much distance between me and those bastards as possible. Unfortunately for the second time, I trip over something and make both of us fall. The only difference being, this time, I fell over something bigger. After my eyes have finally adjusted to the forest's light, I looked up to see some friends. The Dilos, 'Ol Red and Greenie. These two sure know when to make an appearance.

I look them over and turn back to the direction I was running. "Sorry, can't talk! Giga back there and he is pissed!" I'm not particularly certain how, but I think the two understood what I said, as I get what sounds like an affirmative barking and sort of ran off. I also heard a bit of fear in the barks, which is weird but also makes a little sense. Seems like everything here fears that thing. I know I do, and everyone other human does as well. Ok, maybe not Alessandra, but she is literally insane I'm sure. Even more so now that she plans on taming that thing. I will say, though, that would be very badass.

I keep running nonstop until my Stamina runs down, still not certain how that works, and look around. I have no idea where I am, but from the sounds of bugs and intense humidity, I am in some form of swamp. Now my thoughts on this place being a zoo intensifies. There's a Redwoods, a Swamp, a freaking Volcano, and a frozen Ice Mountain on one single Island. That's not even adding what I haven't found yet or what's underwater! This is not a natural environment. I have to adjust again until I could make out faint outlines of the swamp, only seeing trees and, looking down, the reflection of the stars and moon in the murky water. Thankfully, there ain't anything big and bad wanting to eat me yet. Let's see if I continue to have this luck, shall we?

I guess the first thing to do is go through the water. It's a swamp, I'm going to get wet either way, might as well get it over with. I step in the marsh and start slowly making my way through, not wanting to wake up or upset anything asleep in here. I tread lightly for several minutes, luckily not running into anything too big aside a few giant Dragonflies. I love dragonflies. Interesting creatures all in all. For a swamp that is usually considered dangerous, this was more of a minor inconvenience, as every now and then I could get. a look through the plants to the sky and turn to where the sky dot is. Currently making fairly good time.

That's when I heard something a little unnerving. Swimming. It was the gentle sound of a fish treading near the top of the water, and it was right behind me. And in front of me. And to my sides as well. I look around and try to find what the approaching assailants are, but am unlucky as I am sudden bit in my lower leg! I scream in pain before covering my mouth, not wanting to attract anymore attention while I'm bit again! I lift my leg and stomp down on whatever the hell attacked me, trying to at least disrupt it enough to make it leave. Maybe kill it if I'm lucky.

Sadly, I am not, as two more bite at me, properly drawing blood this time. I finally realize I still have my pistol out, as I point to the water and try to focus. I know where my foot is. I don't know where the enemies are. This will most likely draw something towards me. I take a breath and shoot, hearing the splash of it entering the water. I then hear a dulled sound, almost like a muffled impact of a bullet into something. I hit one! Sadly, the excitement died as I was bit again and again by more of them, pretty much making my whole mini victory there a completely mute point.

With very few options and increasing blood loss, it seems my only way to get out of this is to get out of the water. Which I begin to do. I do my best to run in nearly knee deep water to the closest solid land in the area, which I cannot see because it is dark as all hell. Damn you night darkness! I point the gun down and shoot into the water every few strides, occasionally hitting one when it's either about to bite me or already on my leg. It's not hard to tell at this point that these things are probably giant ass prehistoric piranhas, but even more annoying and deadly. Mostly deadly, but still. Damn my legs hurt.

After a very, very painful water run filled with bites and fish shooting, I finally find myself to a shallower part of water which gets even more shallow until… dry land! Finally! I climb up and kick off the last piranha from legs, finding a boulder to sit on. I tear off my basically destroyed hide pants and try to look over my legs. The darkness isn't helping any, as all I can tell is that my legs are currently soaked in blood and swamp water. Lovely.

I take a few minutes to breathe before putting back on the pants, realizing I'll have to force myself to a light source before doing this. I look up and see… Redwoods. Giant Redwood trees with the huge glowing dot fairly close. Thank the fucking lord, I'm almost home. I make my way through the dense, dark woods towards my home, my fairly well adjust vision catching some points of interest. There's the pushes I hid in when running from Alessandra, a little up is the clearing where I tamed Hiccup. That should mean that right up ahead is… my base in the middle of the empty field! Oilslick, Hiccup and Woody Allen are sitting out front, and I think the campfire is still on! I can see it through my still open windows! Oh, glorious day! Well, night, in this instant.

I start doing the best sprint I can towards the small wooden building, closing distance fast before finally hitting the door. I open it and set Blue down on the floor, sitting on the floor and taking off my pants. Oh yeah, fuck, that is bad. The are at least thirty rings of bite marks on each leg, all strangely big for a fish and fairly deep. Of course, they were bleeding profusely, as expected. But then, I also notice something else on my leg. A giant ass leech! How did I not notice it beforehand? How I get this thing off? I pull out my radio and frantically turn to Alessandra's channel.

"Alessandra!"

"What?"

"Leeches! Leg! Get off!?"

"Use fire to burn it off."

"Thank you!" I turn off the radio and hop over to my fire, borderline shoving my leg into it. It was extremely painful, but it did both clean my wounds-I assume-and make the leech fall off in a tortured screech. I pull my foot out and fall back onto my bed, not really even caring anymore. It's been a long day. I just push myself up to my pseudopillow and just close my eyes, just letting whatever dreams come that will.


	34. Chapter 34: Tantibus

The night was a little… strange, to say the least. I had another dream, but in this one the voices, were a lot more clear. I still couldn't see anything, but I was able to listen well.

" _But it hasn't entered the ARK yet!_ "

" _It is a meteor… change it's path._ "

" _We already did to turn it to them! They… TEK already!_ "

" _...nothing if they don't defeat the other two Ultimate Lifeforms._ " The voice grows stern. " _And I highly doubt they… blind girl, Russian Nazi and a gay… superiority complex._ "

Wow, I wonder who that was referring to. I think for a second as the voices are more muffled, deciding to do something that seems a small bit out there. I try my best to talk, only to feel my mouth fill with… some liquid, definitely not water. I can't explain why or how, but I didn't panic. In fact, it felt right, as I moved myself to the feeling of the same liquid all around me. Suddenly the voices start again.

" _42, situation! The… woken up!_ "

" _What?_ Questo non è buono! _Quick, sedations!_ "

With that, I assume the other voice does as he's told and finds some way to sedate me. Wait a second, sedate? As in drug someone to make them sleep? I don't like that. I am able to get one heavy hit onto the glass before feeling a new liquid being shot into whatever it is I was in, probably a tank of some kind. The second I feel it reach higher up on my body I start to get dizzy and lightheaded, feeling ridiculously tired.

" _23… just happened here!?_ "

" _I-I d-don't know! He just… on the ARK!_ "

" _So, this one dreams… here? Damn. We have to…_ "

I can't hear the rest of the conversation due to finally passing out. There is a huge difference between going to sleep and passing out from being drugged, and the latter is terrifying. You just… slowly lose control before not being able to process anything.

* * *

That is, until I jerk awake seconds later in a cold sweat. I shoot up only to hit my head on the window, which I guess I opened inward at some point, and fall straight back down. I feel my forehead and already come across a growing knot right above my right eye. Aaaaand _there's_ the headache that would kill Professor X. Wonderful day already. I roll around and sit up, rubbing my head and looking around. Already light outside, so I must have somehow slept through the whole night. Good. I hate working in the dark.

I stand up and try my best to process everything that just happened, while at the same time making myself something to eat for the morning. Looks like my legs somehow healed overnight. Awesome. I open my Implant and just have a few bits of cooked meat and Amarberries, taking a look at all my vitals. Not the healthiest breakfast, but it's actually really good. I look around to my small tames and give each if them a good pet, picking up Thief the Pego and placing him on my shoulder. It's been a while since I took the little guy out.

Before I leave I look down and notice something. Right underneath my little Dodo was an even littler egg! Guess these things are like chickens. I pick it up and examine it, reading it's description in my Implant. Apparently, this could be used to make something called Kibble. The hell is Kibble? Actually, never mind. Sounds like dino food, so I might want to hold onto it. Or, well, Patches should hold onto it. She laid it, she holds it. I learned that things stay fresh in tames inventory than in mine. So it goes from 8 days with to… holy crap baskets, 32 days! I'm gonna start using these guys as fridges from now on! Actually… I should try and invest in an actual fridge or something, maybe a preserving bin.

For now, I must go and see if anyone's done anything noteworthy this morning. I push open the front door and… I have been invaded! Giant ass kangaroo looking things have taken refuge in my volcano field during the night, hopping around and tearing up bushes for berries. Adorable bastards! What does it take to tame these things? I want all of them. This looks like a job for my handy-dandy walkie talkie! I'm sure Katlyn would be a good talk in the morning. I tune to their station.

"Mornin', Katlyn!" I threw on a fake Cockney accent.

" _Piss off, ya fuckin' Mockney, it's too early._ "

Well, that's one way to say good morning. "Uh, sorry… I'll call back later."

" _Thanks._ " With that, the radio went to static on her side. Must not be a morning person?

Ok, that plan was a bust. Maybe I should wait until our next big group thing before talking about the dream thing. I like using thing a lot, but it feels if this was a book it'd be a terrible thing to use too often. Oh well, good thing this is a real life island filled with dinosaurs and mythical beasts, because then I would seem like a talentless hack!

I think on who would be a good person to call for this before remembering something. I actually have to see people today! Two people to be exact, ones with access to Tek equipment. I must see what it is like! As well as talk about something probably important with someone that's been here the longest. Or… maybe go somewhere else, because that's the last location if the Giga. Or _that_ Giga. Who knows, there could be more. Hopefully not.

I look over towards the Red Obelisk and start up my walki-wait a second, no I don't. I think the best way to play this is with a couple of the others. Haven't taken Oilslick out for a hunt in a while, and that big old beaver could use a little adventure. I come over to the two and give them a follow whistle. Still not sure why they react to that. Probably something to do with how they ain't real dinosaurs or prehistoric critters or something along those lines.

I look between the two and think, getting one stupid ass idea. I come around to the centipede and look him over, stepping over him and looking down. Now, this is either going to work or I am going to learn how comfortable the ground is! I lower myself down some to try and ride Oilslick, which actually goes pretty smoothly for at first. At first is the most important part of that statement, because as soon as he realized what I was doing he started hissing and bucking and shaking like crazy, trying to knock me off. Just as I theorized, I was thrown off hard onto my back in the grass, giving me a chance to think through my decisions in life. A lot of embarrassing internet history deletion.

I pick myself up and look at the centipede, somehow having an expression of annoyance on his face. How can he even do that? He's a freaking bug! Ok, I think right now I'll just ride Woody Allen instead. Can I rename disowned tames? Questions for later. For now, going to Alessandra's, _NOT_ through the swamplands this time. Screw those piranhas, screw the leeches, and screw whatever other creature may be in there! I don't wanna get caught and death rolled by some giant gator, or picked up and get bit in half by a Spinosaurus. Wait, can Spinos use their front two leg-hand things? Damn. I want a Spino now… I should probably head out soon. Make me stop getting idiotic ideas in my head.

The walk over to the base wasn't all that difficult. Very calm morning so far, minus one little run in with a shit ton of giant ant things called Titanomo Soldiers. Got some chitin and meat from it, so mostly good! I stop Woody in front of Alessandra's giant gate, hopping off and coming up to it. I guess… the best way to do this is knock? I don't want to get my head blown off, but still, I need to talk to somebody. I raise my hand and give four hard knocks on the door, stepping back to wait. I stand there for a good few minutes before I hear a giant creak out of nowhere that makes me jump. Looks like Alessandra finally got to the door.

I come up whenever the door is open to greet Aless only to see that she is… not what I'd expect from someone like her in the morning. Her hair was all thrown to hell, she wasn't wearing pants, thank god she still had the undergarments down there, no shoes or socks, and she looked freaking exhausted. Almost like she just woke up from a very few hours of sleep. Then I looked behind her to see Carol tapping out of one of the buildings looking very near the same, only she actually had pants on and no shirt-thankfully also wearing a bra. Now, I'm not the brightest of Canadians, but I'm pretty sure can put two and two together when the evidence is given to me like that. Also, I did hear the voices last night say something about a _blind chick_ and _gay_ something another with a _superiority complex_.

"Morning, Alessandra! I have some probably serious shit to tell you right now." Might as well get straight to the point, yeah? Yeah.

She groans and swears in Italian. "Fine… Come on in. I guess bring the bug and beaver with you, too." Wow, she seemed a whole lot more… what's the word for this? Laid back yet still somewhat annoyed? Sounds like the usual morning after a 'special night' with someone else.

I walk in and whistle for the two to follow, stopping whenever Alessandra closes the gate again. I look over to Carol still tapping away and shout to her. "Good morning, Carol! Y'alright today? I did kick your ass pretty bad yesterday!"

She laughs with each tap of her rifle as she makes her way up to me, stopping and lifting it straight up as hard as possible directly into the family jewels. "Well, am'm doin' pretty good today, thank ya very much! Ah'd ask tha' same, but ya' don't seem in tha' best of shape."

I kneel over and laugh a little, trying to get myself better after that. Alessandra was also laughing, rather louder and patting me on the back. "The best part is, you can't pull that back on either of us!" She bounces from me and moves over to Carol and pats her. It's good to see her sort of happy, I suppose, even though it's at my pain. Who am I kidding, pain is funny. "Alright, now what did you want, Greggory?"

I took a breath and stood straight up again, the initial pain fading at this point. "A-alright, so… I had a stupid weird dream last night, and I think my predictions of this place not being as real as I think it is is true. But first," I turn over to Carol, "I have to ask you for an Arthropleura saddle."

* * *

"Alright, 23… Could you explain to me what the fuck just happened?"

"I-I-I, uh, I-I-" The Agent is met with a firm smack across the face.

"Listen there, you little shit," Number 42 yells to the smaller ARK worker's face, pointing down the hallway, "We can't let those stupid fucks wake up in here, do you understand? If these idiots know what's really going on, especially that Alessandra chick, we are beyond fucked. _Beyond fucked_."

"I-I-I…" Agent 23 takes a deep breath and nods, "I understand, Number 42. I-..." He takes a deep breath, "I also understand how to use these ridiculous sci-fi pistols the Overseer gave us! I know we have to shoot if anything abnormal happens to where their real bodies wake up, making sure they don't realize what is truly happening here."

The superior looks down to 23 before growing a little grin. "I'm going to enjoy replacing you with another 23. Very replaceable, so just go on and do what you will before I have to clean up your mess." She straightens herself up and turns from the room. "Watch the tanks, I have business to take care of. Please, keep them asleep this time." With that, the Agent leaves.

* * *

The Agent walks down the halls of the ARK's interior, passing several holograms of the planet used to be called Earth through many different stages of time. The giant island of Pangea. The lush, beautiful land of seven continents she remembered growing up on. And the last, an orange ball lacking of any life whatsoever. She wishes she wasn't a part of it, but she now knows it was an inevitability. She's just glad she got onto the side of people who would live beyond it, to try and keep the next level of humans alive. She continued down, passing the holographic creatures of the Island and humans they have in stock to send down. Too bad these poor bastards won't be able to see the light before the Island has to form.

She comes to the bridge over the land, watching as a series of Beacons are shot down. Green, white, white, and blue. 42 still doesn't understand why the Overseer sees it necessary to deliver these, but it does. She's learned not to question it too much. That is, except for now. She enters the last room of the ARK, looking over the holographic map of the Island and ignoring it, walking straight up to the giant Specimen Implant looking object in the back over.

"Well," she starts talking to the Overseer, "You seem to be having an issue. Those clones are to stay asleep at all times, yet you let one slip." 42 looks the Implant object over before passing, looking at the thousands of other ARKs rotating what used to be Earth. All controlled by an Overseer. All having their own Agents to look after them. Some being more broken than others, some not even functioning any more. "You're trying to tell us something, aren't you? What is it?"

The hologram of the Island lets out a loud humming, loud enough to be heard throughout the entire facility, before going back to it's base silence.

"Oh? That's new..."


	35. Chapter 35: Malum

There was another hum throughout the Overseer pillar, this time sending a tremor across the building. I'm thrown out of my chair and land on the glass, getting a very good look at the ceiling of my work place. Huh, I never noticed before, but the lights are off centered. As the hum quiets down I stand up and wait, trying to understand just what in the hell is happening. One little look at the exterior cameras may help.

I sit and roll my seat to the camera panels of my freaking colossal desk, switching them from The Island to right outside on all three corners. What I see is just a tad bit unsettling. There was a large amount of space rock around a horribly dented and cracked up corner. That wasn't supposed to happen. I then roll over to check on the state of the ARK to Debris Turrets to see… all but one was hit with space debris, and the last was only on half power. I have to tell Geminia.

I roll over to the speaker on my desk and press the button to call my superior. "Number 42! Situation!"

It takes a few minutes but eventually she replies, "What type of situation, 23? I am very busy right now."

"Well, how do I put this? The pillar has been hit and the turrets are down! Whatever that hum was, it must have been saying we're damaged."

It takes a lot less time before she responds. "The Overseer. It let out that hum the second I asked what was wrong with it. Give me a moment." Her side of the radio goes quiet for quite a while before she returns. "It's nothing serious. I programmed some drones to fix it, for the time being keep an eye on it. It should only take approximately four hours for the turrets, we're just going to have to make due with the pillar being damaged."

I take a relieved breath and spin in my chair to look outside. "Ok, thank you, 42." I decide it may be a good idea to ask this now. "Hey, um… can I ask something real quick?"

"What is it?"

"Would it be possible if… we were to start referring to each other with our actual names? I mean, to my knowledge we're the only two working here right now. We don't need these stupid numbers that were given to us."

"Hmm…" 42 goes quiet for a minute. "Alex," I have never heard her use my real name before. This must be good! "If you start referring to me on a formal basis, I will castrate you with a rusty butter knife." Then I hear another sound I barely get from her. She freaking laughed at me. "But, seriously, we're professionals. We shall refer to each other with only professional manners. Understood?"

I groan and nod, despite her not even being here at the moment. "Understood, 42. Over." She returns the over and the radio goes off on both ends. "Old cunt."

I spin around in my chair before going to some panels. I tap a button to get a read of all current living Island creatures and think of what needs to be added. Looks like the amount of wild Troodons is actually higher than normal, which is strange. I round it out be spawning in a small group of the new Raptors directly onto the biggest group and switch over to a screen to watch. This is my favorite part of my job.

I wait as a group of about six Raptors bark in the woods before charging into a field, dashing in random directions through the tall grass. It takes a second before the first Troodys jump out of the foliage onto a Raptor, four tackling one onto the ground and destroying it in a bloody bath. Unfortunately for them, the rest of the pack was able to react fast, running to their fallen hunter and attacking the Troodons, picking them up in their maws and thrown back and forth violently until all was left was a chunk of bleeding Troodon torso. Everything else was stuck to trees or in the grass. Five Troods down, and an up in Raptors. I suppose I'll let that go on for a while, check back later.

The next couple hours are more or less uneventful, the only thing of note happening being a little battle between the Giga and a couple Brontos. Giga won, of course. I think the Overseer may have overpowered the monster, but I have nowhere to say. It's fun watching it destroy the thing we're using to make a new life for humanity. I spin around in my chair before the lights go out suddenly. I jerk up and look around, trying to tell what is happened before they flicker back on. I roll over to the desk to find, in big red letters:

EMERGENCY POWER ONLY

SOLAR GENERATORS OFFLINE

I stand and run over to the glass to look out, seeing something that is extremely not good. The sun. I couldn't see it. Somehow, the Earth has moved into the path of light and the moon was too far away for any of the light to bounce back. We were completely in the dark. We have almost no power. I can't radio 42 to tell her, I only have limited access to the ARKs controls, and we only have enough oxygen to stay alive for forty-eight hours. Earth, please be merciful to us and move quickly.

* * *

Agent 42 was busy writing down code at her computer, making sure the repair drones fix the turrets in a timely manner when the lights flicker for her. She looks up when they come back on and stands from her seat, making her way towards the Overseers observatory window to see the situation. Sun being blocked out by the Earth and the solar generators shut down faster than they're supposed to. It wouldn't be an issue if not for the generators crashing an hour before they should. Perhaps the pillar being hit caused more damage than the Agents thought.

42 picks up her radio and calls into her subordinate, only to find that the communications relay isn't responding. She growls quietly to herself before throwing the radio, smashing against the wall into pieces. She slams her hands onto the console and looks over what is currently down, trying to calm herself down. Seeing how little there is in the Agent's control, however, does not help as she balls her hands into fists and give the table a good beating.

Once Geminia worked out her anger issues she stood up, straightened out her suit, turned to the hallways and started making her ways out of the room. She passes all the holographic Earths, the windows to the Ultimate Lifeform Arenas, enters the elevator to go down to 23 and realizes that it is powered down as well.

"Goddammit, Earth," She says, walking back to the Overseer's chambers and looking out the window, "We destroy you, you try to destroy us. We're trying to save your most endangered creatures!" She takes a breath and looks to the Implant looking object. "I'm yelling at a dead planet. This job is driving me crazy. Do we have any booze?"

The Overseer lets out another hum as it brings a table up from the floor. On the table is a small glass, a bowl with ice and one of those ice breakers and grabbers, and a bottle of scotch. Geminia looks up to the Overseer and grins, coming up to the booze and pouring herself a small glass.

"Thank you, Overseer. I really needed this," she says, taking her first sip. She thinks for a second in between drinks to think, setting the glass down. "Wait… we don't have power. Why are you able to bring this up?"

No response.

"I asked you a question, you stupid machine."

No response again.

Geminia narrows her eyes and takes another sip, going to her controls and pulling out a notepad and pen from a drawer. She writes: 'Keep an eye on Overseer. Not responding, controlling things with no power'. She tears off the paper and places it on the control center and sits down, going back to work as normal, glancing behind every so often to monitor the Overseer. "What are you playing at here?" She takes another sip, "Damn this is some good scotch."

* * *

"-then I shot up and banged my head on the window," Greggory ended his story, "So yeah, weird voices."

Both Alessandra and Carol look at the Canadian before going into identical laughter. After a rather unnecessary amount of laughter Alessandra speaks up, "Greggory, that is ridiculous. Your mind is probably just trying to make an understanding of what's happening here. I highly doubt some ' _Agents_ ' or whatever you called them are ever going to exist or be involved in our situation. Right now, it's about getting off this Island and getting home."

Greggory huffs and shrugs, looking to the two women. "I can agree with that part. Huh..." He takes a second to think, looking up and focusing a little into the sky. "Hey, uh... do you two feel like we're, I dunno, missing something important? I've been feeling that a lot lately, to be honest with y'all."

Alessandra shrugs. "Unimportant people tend to miss important things happening."


	36. Chapter 36: TEK

After being laughed at for my dreams and assuming they actually meant anything, Carol answers my second request of getting a saddle for Oilsick. When she hands it to me, I am surprised to see that it is actually fairly lightweight despite being made with metal and obsidian. Decently sized, too, it actually looks a little comfortable, I come over to the bug and struggle strapping it around him. It goes… less than perfectly for a few minutes before I finally get it on like all of Carol's Arthropleura.

I attempt to redo my riding situation from prior, sitting on the saddle and taking the reins and giving a small _go_ command. I am still confused on how they can understand that stuff, because the Arthropleura listens to my commands like nothing. I give him a little test drive around Alessandra's base, testing out everything he can do. Apparently, I can control when he spits acid and in what direction. Always a good thing when in a long range wallop. Wallop? The hell is this, Cuphead? Fuck that game. Disney ass wannabe, getting more attention than it should for a stupid bullet hell with overly pornable mermaid bitch.

Welp, there goes half the readers as well as the writers internet history.

After a good five or so minutes, I feel I've gotten the hang of this thing and come back over to the two women. Alessandra is her usual not all that impressed self, and Carol is still blind so she can't see my testing bullshit. The only time I'll be happy someone's blind. I hop off Oilslick and stretch, realizing I will have to get used to riding things with different saddles if I'm ever gonna go into a fight. I'd honestly go into a fight with something bigger. Maybe a Rex? Allos? Spino? Spino.

I look over to Aless. "Question, how hard is it to tame a Spinosaurus?"

"Oh, just like everything else on this me forsaken Island. Knock it out and feed it it's preferred Kibble."

"Ok, which is?"

"Argentavis."

"Oh, alright. Which is those giant bird things?"

"Yes, but those also take Kibble from the Stegosaurus."

"Alright, so Stego then Argent the-"

"Stegos also take Kibble from the Sarco, which take Kibble from Trikes, which takes Carno, which take Ankylo, which starts the whole thing with Dilo."

"Uh…" I take a second to process and remember all of that. In reverse considering it starts with the Dilo. "So, it's… Dilo, Carno, Sarco-"

"No. Carno, then _Trike_ and then Sarco."

"Thank you. Dilo, Carno, Trike, Sarco, Stego, Argent and _then_ I can get a Spino?"

"Yes," she answers flatly, "Or, alternatively, use a metric tit ton of fish."

"That sounds like the much easier way of doing things, especially with Blue." Otters are good fish catchers! I'll have a Spinosaurus in no time. Of course I'll need to mass produce narcotics and tranq darts. That'll be fun. "So, anything I should know about the Spino for taming?"

Alessandra thinks for a second before shrugging. "Just have an abundance of narcotics. Their topor falls extremely quick. I'd recommend having it get low as possible and then spamming it with the narcs, believe it or not it helps."

"Abundance of narcs, spam if Spino gets low… Gotcha gotcha!" This is not going to work out well! I'm just about to leave before I remember part of the reason I came here. "Oh, and before I go, I was gonna ask how that TEK stuff turned out?"

Alessandra perks up and grins, turning to a new building and starts walking. "Now that's what I was waiting for you to ask about. We built the thing and set it up in this room I'm going to call Tek House.

"After we built it I started looking through the journal from Isaiah and made a couple of things from it. Armor, weapons, couple buildings, even a saddle or two." She stops at the door and pushes it open, showing an extremely strange looking machine, taller than me, made of some weird material I have never seen before. "The here is the Tek Replicator, used as the base for all TEK level creations."

I can only look it over and let out a quiet "Wow…"

"Wow indeed. Especially because of this bitch," Aless says, going into her Implant and pulling out the most sci-fi looking ass rifle I have ever seen. Seriously, it looks like it came right out of a Ridley Scott movie. "This baby is called the Tek Rifle and it is amazing. Sadly, I was only able to make one after everything else."

"Everything else?"

"Show 'em, Carol."

She chuckles and opens up her Implant. "Yeah, tell tha' blind chick ta' show somethin', that makes sense. Ah, 'ere we are!" She exits her inventory and pulls out a giant fucking Halo 5 ass looking sword and proceeds to use it as her walking stick. "Tek Sword! I 'ave no idea what it does, but I assume it's badass!"

I nod as I look it over. "It definitely looks badass. Hell, could cut an entire mountain in half with that thing!"

"Oh no, it gets betta'!" She goes into her inventory again and fiddles around before pulling out. She feels along the handle before finding what I guess is a button and presses, causing the entire thing to light up red. "Alessandra told me it glows red! Does it?"

"Hell to the yeah it does! But… why with the glowy?"

The two shrug before Carol puts the sword away again. "No idea, but 'ah gots a feelin' it's gon' be useful later on."

Aless nods. "Especially for another Boss fight I got a call from André this morning, apparently he and Stefan took the time to make a late night Artifact run. Artifact of The… Skylord I believe? One of the northern Artifacts like that."

I nod. "Huh, so with the one Carol brought that's three out of… how many? Ten I believe?"

"Ten, yes."

"Ok, and I'm going to grab The Clever when I get back to my base, so that'll be four… How long will this take?"

"Well, there are caves in the ocean, thrown in the most random ass areas, on Carnivore Island… A week tops, and then we'll have to do it again, so this should only take around a fortnite."

"Oh lord, don't say that word. That game pissed me off in the real world." And there goes the other half of the readers. "Ok, so two weeks before we go into the big cave, maybe a little longer so we can properly prepare and stuff, then we may get out of here for good!" I have filled myself with premature hype. "So, any other Tek stuff ya wanna show before I head back?"

Alessandra smirks and nods, walking back towards the giant gate and pushing it open. We waked until the Italian stops at a fully open area and turns back. "There is one very, very neat thing I'd like to toss down real quick." She puts her back to me and goes into her Implant, working and making the best thing I have ever seem appear in front of her. I think for a second before realizing just what all songs I put onto my tape for my Walkman. I take out the headphones and let the song play whenever we start moving again. Wonder if we can do YouTube music type-based with no legal issues.

* * *

" _Ridin' round town with my Jeep Stuff, Jeep Stuff_

 _Makin' my rounds with my Jeep Stuff, Jeep Stuff_

 _Takin' out clowns with my Jeep Stuff, Jeep Stuff_

 _Ridin' round town with my…_ "

The Tek Jeep absolutely flies over a hill as the chorus comes to an end, all of us laughing like crazy and genuinely enjoying ourselves. I smile looking out seeing the two Dilos that tend to stick around come up and run alongside the Jeep, jumping and barking up at it. I only laugh more and sing along with the song.

" _Just passed Elvis and I'm rollin' on fifteens, ammo on the hood and my Jeep is lookin' so clean! Not comin' in last, got some BOOM for that ass! See a Giga 'round the corner and I step on the gas!_ "

That Giga part isn't a part of the actual song, I added that in because the giant beast _was_ actually coming around the corner in front of us. I pause the music and tap Aless on the arm. "Alessandra, the Abomination!"

"I see it! _Idee, rapidamente_!" She slams the break and we stare at the Giga for a second and think.

That's when I get the dumbest idea of my life. "Aless. Give me the Tek Rifle." This gets a look from the survivor before it turns into a smirk, nodding and bringing out the gun and giving it to me. "Let's do this shit." I unpause the music and do my own little spin to it.

" _Line his ass like we're waitin' on some tickets, man he doesn't see it comin' you know we ain't gonna miss it._ "

Alessandra slams on the gas as I lean out, shooting directly up. This time, Aless sings. " _É il momento per armegeddon, ha un'arma sopraffatto_. _Digli che la Regina ha salutato quando il tuo culo ottiene al cielo!_ "


	37. Chapter 37: Fugent

Now, you'd assume that charging a Giganotosaurus in a Tek Jeep while shooting it with a Tek Rifle and blaring Neebs Gaming music is a bad idea, right? Surprisingly, you'd be wrong. Whether it was the roar of the vehicle, the shooting directly into its face or the amazing singing of Brent Triplett, the Giga was surprised and backing off.

Sadly, the second we drove between the thing's legs and passed it, the beast started at us again.

I look up as we pass and tilt my head. "Huh. Apparently it's a female. I'mma shoot it in the cooch." And I do, pointing up and firing off a quick shot before we were behind it's tail and driving away. At this point, Miss Abomination was absolutely pissed off and turns, roaring and beginning to chase after us. This was not initially part of my plan. "Welp, I pissed her off good. I believe the term 'floor it' is needed here, Aless."

"This thing can't go much faster, Greggory, so get the bitch off our tail!" She takes a sharp turn to avoid some herding Trikes that were, naturally, running away from both us and the Giga. I lean out the side and aim again, firing constantly up to its face, keeping a focus on the eyes to try and disorient the thing. Then, all of a sudden, the Tek Rifle stops working and Alessandra shouts to me. "It needs to cool down! You can't just constantly shoot, it had a heat range."

"Well that's bullshit!" Although, may be necessary when you think about it. Maybe. I don't know now due to I can't think. For you see, I am being chased by a monster and shooting it in the face. "Do you think there's some symbolism here?"

"Davvero? We are being chased by the Abomination! What symbolism could possibly be here?"

"Well, it just seems like a yin-yang thing here. Stego, 2:30." Aless weaves the jeep to the left as the beast takes a bite at us. "See, on one side is a prehistoric beast that has been the most deadly thing on The Island for years, while on this side we have stupidly advanced sci-fi technology that just came into existence and is putting a fairly equal fight. Doesn't it seem like a thing? Like the past and future fighting to see which is the most dominant? Tree, 11:00."

Alessandra takes a hard turn and accidentally flies us over a fairly high hill, causing one of those Dukes of Hazzard moments. Sadly, instead of some western dude expositioning the situation, Alessandra goes about her insulting my ideas. "Personally, I see it as a monster trying to kill us. I'm already the most dominant thing here, and I will not lose it to an untamable creature I will mount on my wall one day."

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, most dominant." I whisper to myself. "Not what Carol said when you were getting ready…" The jeep comes down with a heavy drop, making me lose my grip and drop the Rifle. "Oh, motherfuck! Aless, stop the jeep! I dropped the gun!"

Alessandra takes no time in parking and turning to me. "I am not scared to leave you and the gun. Hurry." She takes out her normal pistol and turns the other way out the window, shooting the Giga as it came down the hill hard and falling.

I unbuckle and open the door, trying to pump myself up to run out there. I take a second before nodding and shouting the infamous words of one Wade Wilson: "MAXIMUM EFFORT!" I push out of the vehicle and absolutely bolt to the gun, watching Abomination pick itself up and stare me dead in the eyes. "Effort dropping, pants wetting, jeep STARTING!" I shout to Alessandra as I run my fastest to the jeep.

She takes no time slamming on the gas but keeping on the breaks, make sure it goes as fast as it can when she unbreaks. And when she does, she speeds off, nearly leaving me. In fact, she sort of did as I lost my grip on the door and tripped behind the jeep. Fuck. I refuse to look behind me as I start a dead sprint towards the vehicle, reaching out for literally anything on it I can get eventually grabbing onto one of the bar things on the back. And trip. And get dragged. There are worse positions to be in.

Time to assess the situation. I am being dragged by a stupidly advanced sci-fi jeep while holding and equally advanced and equally sci-fi gun, being chased by a goddamn Giganotosaurus, on an Island filled with hundreds of other prehistoric creatures, and I've been here less than a week. So far, third worst birthday week I've ever had.

I struggle to use my one arm to lift my extremely unathletic body onto the back of the jeep, actually doing pretty good as I pull up to just over my elbow. I focus and give 'Ol Bigg'n as Carol calls her a few more good shots in the face, throwing the gun into my inventory and grabbing another bar. With both hands on, I pull myself up and lay on the back of the jeep, slamming the roof to let Alessandra know I'm actually on.

"You are one crazy motherfucker, Greggory! I love it!" She laughs louder than the roar of the engine and floors it again, flying over a smaller hill. "Turn that Neebs back on, we can't do this without epic music!" I oblige, of course, and take out my Walkman and start us where we left off.

"Ridin' round town with my Jeep Stuff, Jeep Stuff,

Makin' my rounds with my Jeep Stuff, Jeep Stuff,

Takin' out clowns with my Jeep Stuff, Jeep Stuff,

Ridin' round town on my-"

I fire again and sing along, as before. "Oh my gawd, Aless, look at this Gig. Running right behind and doesn't see we're winning." There is a big bump that throws me up a little, making my next shot high enough to where I actually do shoot it in the eye. "Lookin' stupid like a Minecraft sheep, we got us a boom-boom Jeep. Better grab a pillow cuz we gonna put yo butt to sleep!"

Alessandra swerves out of the way of a small group of Compys and keeps driving, honking along to the melody. "We are indestructible and on a mission, you know I'm the real McCoy, no I'm not catfishin'." She stops and goes into Italian for some reason, just because I guess? "Se vi presentate in rosso, vi metterò a letto. Scramble voi tutti fino proprio come il modo in cui mi piacciono le mie uova!" Not gonna lie, she is actually really good at keeping with the tempo in another language.

I actually thought we were doing good, Alessandra keeping just above the Giga's speed, me holding it back with rapid Tek shots to the face. But then, disaster hit. I ran out of Element and couldn't fire any more. I panic and slam the roof again. "Alessandra, out of Element! Get this bitch off our tail before we're coming out of her tail!"

"That's gross, Greggory. Ok, I'm coming up on the Redwoods, I'm gonna try and lose her in the trees!"

And with that, she takes a sharp turn into the giant forest, getting followed by the Abomination. Sadly, there is now two things I have to keep an eye out. How close Miss Giga is and the freaking tree cats. Thylacoleo I believe they were called. Although, there could be worse things. Like a group of four Raptors dead ahead, one of which was kind of weird. It had a sort of red glow to it. I really hope that isn't anything.


	38. Update Chapter

MediocreMisterM -

Hey! It's me! The lazy nobody that makes this story! Just giving a small update on this story and a few other odds and ends.

Listen, I love ARK, y'all love ARK, is a good game and story. Which is why I'm sorry to say the uploads on chapters is going to be a little slow from this point forward. I have gotten a new job which is going to take a decent bit of my time up now, so… sorry 'bout that! I'll do my best to keep them coming and at the average length they are at the moment, I just want y'all to be patient and thank you for doing so.

Now for other tiny things. If anyone here gives a single or second s-word about my other stories, those are also gonna be slowed down due to the job and one slightly embarrassing mini project I am working on that may be finished by next week. So, yeah.

Well, that's all for this mini update chapter thing I'm probably gonna get s-word over. Y'all have a good Memorial Day or normal everyday Monday depending on where you live in the world!


	39. Chapter 38: Temporalis Victoria

Note to self: Never assume a minor difference in Raptors means nothing. The red gas aura thing coming off it definitely means it's worse than a normal Raptor. Like, super worse. Aless described the thing as an Alpha, a dino that is stronger, faster and harder to kill than a normal version of its Alpha self. Add that to the Raptors seemingly new ability to get some weird ass pack boost and we two unstoppable forces to deal with. The Abomination and a pack of Raptors led by an Alpha. Just as the famous Bender Bending Rodríguez said: 'Well, we're boned.'

I roll myself onto my stomach and lean to the drivers side and talk to Alessandra. "Aless, Tek, now! Please! We're getting gangbanged by a thirty foot monster and a pack of mini fucks right up the ass, and there ain't no lube until I start firin' off!"

"That's gross Greggory. Very very gross. Oh yeah, here, take the things."

She hands back the Tek Element, letting me take it to reload and open fire again. I am really unsure what to aim for so I decide to take out the smaller threats to hopefully use their corpses as distractions for the big one. I aim and… boom! Raptor down! Damn these things are easy to drop. I aim again and… Alessandra jerks the jeep hard to the right, throwing off my ain and making me shoot the Giga in the foot. First fail while on the back of the jeep. Why am I still on the back of this thing?

I stabilized and aimed to shoot again, lining up a perfect shot for the throat and… I damn near blow its head all the way off. Gross. It falls down and actually trips the Alpha! The Alpha struggles to get up and eventually gets stepped on by the Giga, switching the aggro from us to her. I can pick these things up, it's easy to tell when anger changes targets like that.

I watch as exactly what I thought would happen, happens. The Alpha Raptor quickly stands back up and charges the Giga, jumping up and latching onto the side of it, digging its claws and fangs into the flesh to take it down. This grabs the attention of the last standing Raptor and takes it away from the chase, also attacking the Abomination, making her finally give up chase to deal with them. It seems the best way to fight Gigas is by not fighting them at all! Get something else to do it for you!

The Giga goes down to attack but misses by a giant margin as the Alpha unlatches from her side and starts attacking at ankle level, leaving the rest of the fight unknown as Aless yanks the jeep to the right and continues driving off, very quickly making distance between us. I climb back into the passenger seat and lean back, taking in a deep breath as the drive goes along fairly smoothly now.

"Aless," I say to the Italian, "I think I'm getting pretty good at this being a survivor thing."

She scoffs a chuckle and keeps driving. "Yeah, maybe just good. Try being here through one hundred and twenty periods without a tampon, then we'll talk about being a good survivor." Oh yeah, that's right. She said she's been here for ten years. And that would make it a hundred and twenty. Gross.

"That's gross, Aless. Very, very gross."


	40. Victoria odiosis

It has been a while, so we shall turn our attention to The Mountaineers for the time being as they explore the northern cavern systems in attempts to gather the rest of the Artifacts. The current mission was led by the British explosives expert Katlyn, taking charge down the frozen depths in fur armor and dawning a small Otter around her neck, keeping her temperature moderate as the group continues down the narrow cavern system. The Northwest Hollow was always Katlyn's favorite. Katlyn loves jumping puzzles.

Katlyn crawl through the small passages in the best way she could remember to get to the Skylord. Hug the right wall as best she can and avoid the Araneo, only use the grappling hooks to get a few loot crates. Sadly, this is a retrieval mission, not one for searching through materials that The Mountaineers already have a large amount of already. Honestly, it would just be an unnecessary abundance of force like Alessandra. She herself is an abundance of force in human form.

The trio continues crawling before coming to a fairly less narrow portion at a small cliffside going into a lower down passageway. Usually, the group would just jump down, damned to the falling damage, but due to them wanting to stay as healthy as possible for the time being they simply pull out their crossbows equipped with grappling hooks and shoot into the ceiling, slowly lowering themselves down the cliff until they are on the same level as the Artifact.

Katlyn walks up and accesses the Artifact container, taking the device used for Boss fighting and then returning to the other Mountaineers.

"Well," Katlyn said, shooting another grapple the way they came to exit, "That was easier than last time. Barely saw a single spider. What do you think, big guy? Good mission or boring mission?"

Stefan shrugs as he begins climbing up the grapple. "It was a mission. Honestly, any mission that does not end in someone with a severe injury is a good mission."

Katlyn laughs when she reached the ledge, waiting for the other two. "Now don't get too ahead of yourself, we still have to get out of here."

Andrè comes up last and grins a little, pointing at Katlyn in a very serious-yet-sarcastic way. "Now, don't you start jinxing us. I want to leave zis Island in one piece, and I am sure you do as well, yeah?"

Katlyn shrugs as they begin their exit. "Hey, I'm alright with whatever happens. I don't want to go back to my time, nobody wants to go through the Black Plague. I already fucked up by infectin' those damn Leeches, I don't wanna see the original again.

"Besides, where's the fun in not losing a part of your body? I mean, besides that one Isaac guy that ripped out his Implant, that's the one and only thing I'll keep in and on my body." Isaac was a serious disaster story. "But yeah, life's no fun without the threat of death! Without that everything's just boring."

Andrè shakes his head. "If by 'boring' you mean actually having the possibility of surviving to an acceptable age, zan yes. Zat also makes me ze most boringest person on this entire planet of Earth." He pauses for a second. "Wait, have we already made zat joke?"

Katlyn tilted her head at the question. "What joke?"

"Oh, right, not fourth wall sentient. Never mind."

The Brit and Russian look at their leader a small bit confused before deciding to just move on and ignore it, the former taking point in front and guiding everybody back out of the cave. As when coming down, exiting was surprisingly uneventful throughout the majority, the only issues being a pair of spiders near the mouth of the cave, but Stefan took care of then like nothing, not even using a firearm or anything, he simply threw twi spears at the arachnids.

That's when Stefan finally spoke up. "I have to agree vith Katlyn. This has gotten very boring. There is no more challenge. I miss vhen ve used to struggle, it vas interesting. Now ve barely valk through these caves, ve already have three of them, plus vhatever Alessandra and Carol has, plus the new guy. Ve revisited and regained The Devourer, The Strong, and The Skylord in one day, and yet I am still bored and feel ve've done nothing."

Katlyn looked at the Russian at the mouth of the cave with a large grin on her face. "Exactly! That's what I'm saying! I know we're trying to get out of here as fast as possible, but we can enjoy ourselves a little, right? Because I had an idea!" She exclaimed, taking point as they walked out of the cave and steps into the sunlight, looking up at the sky. "Huh… not to change topic, but does that dot look bigger to y'all?"

The two men look up and shrug, followed by Katlyn shrugging again. "Yeah, just a little. Anyways, my idea! We try to do a cave with the most low-level shit we have available! We can take higher leveled tames and stuff in, but terrible equipment. It'll be a blast from the past AND we get to be productive!"

Andrè sighed and looked at the dot in the sky, trying to process his thoughts properly. "Alright. Alright, zat seems a little idiotic, but alright. One cave. We'll do one cave wiz ze lower-leveled items. What's an easy one we can hit?"

Katlyn quickly raises her hand and jumps a little, clearing having an idea to pile onto her previous idea. "The Clever! It's close to the center of The Island, so we can see if Greggory has made any progress, and we can grab the Artifact! It's also super easy if I remember properly."

Andrè and Stefan look at each for a second before nodding, the former speaking up first. "Alright, zat seems possible. Kind of want to see what he's gotten himself up to since last time we saw. Days are long here, I want to see if he's passed out yet from surprise exhaustion."

Katlyn grins. "Wonderful! And if he has, I call messing with his stuff first!"

Stefan chuckles as he started walking towards The Mountaineers Tapejara, climbing into the drivers side. Or would it be flyers? "Good. In that case, hop on, ve might as vell make it a four Artifact day before the day is over."

And so, the three survivors climb into their spot on the avian, Artifacts in hand, and fly towards the volcano at the center of their home in order to gather the fourth Artifact.

The fly was uneventful, although The Mountaineers did pass a rather neat looking Quetzal but it was low leveled. They arrived at the small wooden base to find Greggory standing outside and having a conversation with Alessandra. Strange to see her having a talk like normal. What was even stranger was the ATV looking vehicle besides them. There is also the question on where in the hell Carol-the blind woman-was. Who just leaves a blind by themselve?

Wait, was that ableist?


	41. Apocalypsis Constat

I will admit, I was not expecting a visit from my mountain dwelling friends, but it's always nice to have company! I look up as the three are descended on the large avian to the ground, hopping off and walking up to me and Aless. I give a small wave. "Hey guys! Stefan, Andrè, good to see y'all. Katlyn, looking as British as always. Guess who just outran a Giga and a pack if Raptors at the same time!"

Alessandra grinned and stuck both her thumbs right at herself. "This fuck mothering badass right here! With the Tek ATV, I was able to outrun those fuckers like nothing. I may never have to worry about The Abomination ever again. I'll just have to run. Now, I will say, that is a blow to the pride, but hey, I want off this damn Island and I will get off it alive."

I look at the Italian confused. "Fuck mothering badass?"

"What? It's a new thing I'm trying. Don't judge me, I just got comfortable enough to talk how I want around you people."

Andrè looked at Aless. "It took you ten years to get comfortable?"

"Yes, and I would be happy if I was you. My outer shell has grown hardened by those ten years, it's amazing I even let myself out now. I've been feeling a lot stranger lately if I am being honest, almost as if I want to… compassionate towards other humans."

I stop and think for a second glancing up to the sky. Then I notice something. "That dot in the sky, I think that's what's messing with us. Alessandra's acting like she isn't the center of the universe-"

I'm cut off when Aless laughs. "Ha! Please, I am definitely the center of everything."

"Yes, definitely." I go back to my list from before, "I've been having weird dreams, Carol told me her eyes were beginning to hurt despite being blind. It all started just as I arrived, when that stupid dot showed up." There is a decent length silence as everyone looks up to the sky, I now able to make out some type of form from it. It wasn't just a dot, there was something behind it. Some kind of… "Trail. That thing has a trail."

Alessandra looked at it and nods. "Oh yeah, so it does. Why would a random sky dot have a trail? Unless…"

There was another silence, followed by everybody sharing concerned glances. We seem to all have an instantaneous understanding of what that means, why we're starting to feel strange. That dot, which we now see is no mere normal dot, was heading directly for The Island.

I take a breath and nod, looking to everybody once our personal understandings finally faded a little bit. "Okay, we have to get those goddamn Artifacts, right the fuck now. If that cave on the volcano IS our way out, we have to unlock it ridiculously quickly."

As we all took a moment of silent agreement, Stefan turned to the British girl and Frenchman. "Alright, that settles it. Ve are NOT going to go into caves 'for fun' now. Ve go in, grab the Artifact, fight the next Boss, rinse and repeat. André, I am sorry for thinking ve needed excitement, the stakes now appear to be too high for excitement."

Katlyn nods. "Agreed. Although it would be fun, our own survival should come first. And it is coming first! Greggory, I'm going to give you a higher leveled gun, you go into that cave on the other side of the volcano, get the Artifact of the Clever. Andrè, you take Stefan and go grab a random Artifact, I don't care which. Alessandra, you and me are going to grab your aquatics, we're gonna do a sea cave Artifact collection. All agreed?"

Everybody lets out either a 'yeah' or 'agreed' before already starting to go in their own separate directions. Aless and Katlyn on the ATV, Stefan and Andrè on the large bird, and me whistling for Oilslick to come along to the cave. It shouldn't be all that hard for me to find it, they did say it was just on the other side of the mountain, it should only be a few minutes long walk. We all now have a massively huge prime directive that we are going to follow even if it kills us. Or if Alessandra kills us, I see that happening much more than the majority of our other possible outcomes.

 _A/N: Sorry for a short chapter this time around! And also for my absence. The absence is unexplainable, I just needed a break, but the reason for a short chapter is, well, let's just say I'll be spending a lot of time in The Appalachians for the next few weeks._


	42. Artificium Pars prima News

I quickly run over and hop onto Oilslick's back, equipping my new shotgun and riding around the plains around the volcano towards the area I was told this Artifact of The Clever was, now knowing that we have a major deadline. Although, not knowing exactly what that deadline is not the best set of circumstances. For all we know that thing is careening straight for us and level this entire Island in less than an hour. And there's the anxiety spike from my overactive train of thought. Damn my brain.

Surprisingly, the fields around the volcano were weirdly empty. There was the occasional Trike or Stego, and I saw a Bronto stomping around the jungle, but nothing all that serious. It was honestly very calming, good for the news I was just dropped with. That doesn't mean I cannot rush. I kept Oilslick going as fast as he could towards what I can now see is a cave - or at least a hill - a ways into the distance. Thank god, I was about to make think there wasn't a cave, I already went halfway around this damn mountain.

I steady down the full paced run into a normal walking speed, coming around the hill I see a couple of those dumbass bug things I cannot remember the name of. Like giant ants and dragonflies. This place ruined dragonflies for me, I used to love those little things for christ's sake! I just sigh and take out my new shotgun on Oilslick's back and take aim, waiting for them to catch my attention before completely blowing their heads off. Easy meat and chitin. I let the giant bug do his thing as I look inside the mouth of the cave. It seems pretty straightforward for as far as I can see, going in a decent while before it gets too dim for me to tell if it's a wall or just lack of light.

Honestly? They're both equally unnerving options. Well, time to go head first in with a giant centipede and a shotgun with very minimal knowledge of what to expect! This is definitely a smart move.

I almost enter before catching just the quietest sound of… what in the everloving hell is that? It's almost like Christmas music, but I don't remember it being around that time. Is it? Then I look up to the sky where I heard it and see possibly the most confusing thing I have ever seen. It was a being drawn by eight deer. That's… No. Nooo, that can't be.

I am certain I am going crazy, because I watch as somebody on the inside of the sleigh throws out a giant box. No, not a box. A present. This was quickly followed by a loud exclamation of "Ho ho ho!"

I am… multiple different levels of confused right now and do not really know how to react. I take out my walkie talkie and call up really anybody.

"Uh… come in, anybody, I guess? This is Gregg. Over."

It takes a second before there is Alessandra's voice over the speaker. "Buon Natale, Greggory! I didn't think it was this time of year, but Raptor Clause has came around like always! Hope you've been good this year!"

What the actual fuck? "Uh… Explain. please? Over."

This time, I hear Katlyn's voice, "Raptor Clause! Every year he brings presents for The Island! But if you're bad, you just get a Compy in a box!"

That is quickly followed by Aless laughing. "I have nine years worth of Compy heads hanging in my base, and I'm ready for the tenth!" Wow, ten straight years of naughtiness. Not surprised.

"Wait," I say, being a little confused, "The Santa in this Ark is a goddamn Raptor? How does that work?"

"How the hell should we know, idiota? He's too far up for us to fly and ask him!" Sarcasm, always wonderful to hear. "Anyways, funny thing with him is he always shows up during the holiday season until New Years, so just use him as a clock until we switch into year eleven."

"Okay, that makes sense. Santa clock. Alright, y'all have fun opening those presents, I'm gonna go down and get this dumb Artifact thing." I didn't even want to hear how they would continue to talk about the Raptor Clause or whatever he is, instead going into the cave with my gun drawn and centipede by my side. I really hope this plays out well. Probably won't, but I will at least try to get out alive, Artifact or no!

But I really hope it's Artifact yes so we can bail before we get hit with a meteor. That already happened to the dinosaurs once, I don't want to be around them when it happens again.


	43. Life and Progress Update

Hey guys. This is just a sorta update I guess or whatever so I'll be quick and to the point.

The reason everything has been so slow is because I'm actually graduating high school! I've just been getting everything ready for that stuff, and also getting ready for college. So, this is just me assuming things for right now. Starting after next Thursday, things should be going back to normal hopefully! So… yeah. The next chapter is halfway done so that's defo gonna happen. Yeah, so just hang on a lil bit please.

Love all y'all!

—M


	44. Pack

As I traveled down the cave systems, I noticed that there was a large amount of metal and crystal nodes. I am now planting this place in my memory as a place to get quick and easy metal. And crystal. And those weird mushroom things. Wonder if those are safe to eat? Might be the drug kind of mushrooms, but then I'd feel like I'm in That 70's Show. Wait. Was it the 70's or 60's? Who cares.

I walk down with Oilslick and come to a cross section of sorts, having to look down a few branching paths. I look to Blue on my shoulder. "So lil guy? Any idea where we should head down first?" The otter glanced around before nodding to the right. "Right it is then!" I turn, make sure the giant bug is still behind me, pull out my shotgun, and start walking.

And then I see it, coming down from a small slope, was a small land bridge in a pool of water leading to an island holding… I couldn't really tell what that was. It seemed to be some metallic object made of the same material as what was on top of the volcano. Whatever it was, it was floating on the center of the small island, giving off an extremely strong aura of some sort, one that made me feel… Smarter. More intelligent overall. I was quickly thrown out of my trance of the Artifact before realizing something.

Cave with a bridge over water. Floating Artifact in the center. I'm holding a shotgun.

This was exactly like that dream.

That's when the water exploded from it's calm stance as a giant crocodile beast emerged and climbed onto the bridge. I instantly remembered it both as a Sarcosuchus and the creature that attacked me in my dreams. It growled and glared at me and I stared back. This encounter is a little different than my dream. I look to one side. There are the Arthropleura. I look to the other, there are the snakes and bugs. But then I realize. There were a number of things wrong with the situation. I must end up coming back here a few times and this guy is like a mini boss for the Artifact. Fun.

"Alright," I say to the Sarco raising up my shotgun, "Let's do this shit, you oversized handbag."

That must have pissed him off, because he instantly charged at me. Strangely enough, I wasn't scared by this, quickly whipping up the gun and firing two rounds directly into the reptile's face. I am not an animal behaviorist, but I am more than certain that pissed it off even more as it roared directly into my face.

"Ah. Well fuck," I let out, quickly jumping back as the Sarco starts charging at me. I switch out my shotgun for the pistol Aless gave me and started rapid firing aiming straight for the eyes first. The croc stops and lets out a loud roar as his eyes are completely blown out, rendering it blind and bloody. I at least hope it's blind.

I step back again only to trip down as a hunk of rock on the bridge breaks off into the water. Well, there goes dry shoes. Now I have to dry these before there's any mildew buildup. I should not be thinking about this considering I see giant Piranhas swimming up at me from deeper in the water. I pull my foot up and point my gun down, shooting two in the face and causing the rest to swim away from me.

Right now I'm not too certain if it was the sounds of water splashing, firing my gun, or the fact that this bridge can only go one way, but the Sarco charged towards me once again. I aimed up again and shot a few times decently wildly, getting the majority of hits on it before it finally gets close to me. I must have misjudged how capable it was with eight rounds in it and no eyes, because the damn thing opened his mouth and clamped down hard on my leg.

I let out a loud pained roar before switching back to the shotgun, having to struggle before getting a good shot. This was gonna fuck up my leg, but I was going to take it for my own long term survival. I bit my lip, put the barrel of the gun right on top of the croc's mouth where he had my leg, closed my eyes, and…

The pressure was released. I opened my eyes again to see that Oilslick had spit acid onto the dinosaur! "Hell yeah!" I shout out, pulling out one of the red liquids Alessandra had given me, biting the quark off and downing half of it and pouring the rest onto my wound. The pain started fading and the liquid seeped into the wounds and started closing it up. I stood back up and watched the two prehistoric beasts battle each other.

Considering the fact the it was blinded, had multiple gunshot wounds, and had a poisonous acid in his face, the Sarco was definitely on the losing side of this fight. Oilslick coiled around the crocodile s a snake would, taking huge bites into its body and occasionally even the head. How the bug was positioned also made it impossible for the Sarco to get any type of bite or claw at it.

Eventually, through minimal input from me and continued constrictive attacks, the Sarcosuchus fell limp on the bridge and Oilslick began uncoiling and eating into the felled beast. I sigh and quickly fall on my ass on the bridge, looking around and seeing that all the creatures that had gathered around us had started to disperse. Seems like they just wanted to watch the show. I was now alone with just Blue and Oilslick. And the Artifact.

I grin as I finally stand and come up to the floating item. I reach forward and grab it, sudden getting fueled with a powerful energy, suddenly feeling amazing in every portion of my body. I suddenly felt much more, in a sense, complete. As though I had an entire tribe behind my back. And not just Aless and The Mountaineers, but a full on army of many people and dinosaurs. It took me very quickly to realize what this ability was. It was the active aura of The Artifact of the Pack.

One step closer to getting out of here.

* * *

A/N: Aaaaaaaand I am graduated! So expect me being more active, baby!


End file.
